


Fantastic Bytes: Beautiful Trauma

by KatieHavok, Kemara



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Future, Cybernetics, F/M, mention of mental and physical disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-07 11:10:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15217889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieHavok/pseuds/KatieHavok, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemara/pseuds/Kemara
Summary: In 3026, Newt Scamander travels to a dystopian America to compile a database of surviving fantastic Beasts. It goes about as well as you would expect.





	1. Welcome To New York - 3026

**Author's Note:**

> Despite being a "cyberpunk" AU, this story isn't based on the rules of any particular book, video game or movie. It's simply my idea of how magic and technology might co-exist long in the future. 
> 
> The rating is M mostly for one smutty scene - many thanks to my co-author and beta KatieHavok for that - which I'll mark in case anyone wants to skip over it. 
> 
> My soundtrack for this story was P!nk's "Beautiful Trauma," but whether it fits Newt or Tina best is up to you.

I hate air cars. Wait; that’s not entirely true. I hate being stuffed cheek by jowl into a small, metal box for hours with several other humans. Luckily, this one wasn’t full, so I put my feet up and enjoyed a nice kip until our landing jarred every organic bone in my body. 

I let the others go ahead of me so I could double-check my case (no jokes about small, metal boxes, please). We were an hour or two behind schedule, and I’d need to feed everyone as soon as I found my hotel. When I stumbled out of the dimly-lit airlock at last, ignoring the attendant’s glare for my tardiness, the queue at customs wasn’t too bad. I tried to take it as a good omen. 

New York isn’t a place I’d normally visit for a research expedition, you understand. North America was never a popular tourist destination. After its economic collapse at the start of the century and its rebirth as a poverty-stricken nation, the United States was even less so. But when one of my contacts mentioned last month that fantastic beasts had once again been spotted out in the festering American wastes, I decided what the hell; can’t hurt to take a look.  

The customs booth was a rickety outbuilding at the end of the jetway, but I knew better than to assume anything. I checked that my usual deflection spells were in place with the ease of long practice. They’ve saved my arse on numerous occasions, so I’m not likely to forget them.

“Next!” 

The glass security door in front of me opened with a scream like a fwooper in pain. It stuck halfway, and I barely squeezed through before it slammed shut again, trapping me in a dingy, airless room that stank of cheap cigarettes and cheaper liquor. Two officials — one tall and skinny, the other short and fat — sat behind a battered metal counter watching me with the unique, beady-eyed attention of bureaucrats the world over. 

I hunched my shoulders and tried to look small and non-threatening, but I had the feeling it didn’t work very well. 

The short, fat man yanked my old, patched rucksack from my shoulder and started pawing through it like a niffler looking for coins. I gritted my teeth and forced myself not to say anything. A few Asian ration packs rested alluringly on top. I’m not above a little bribery when it counts. 

“Let’s see your chip, Red!” Tall and skinny grabbed my organic arm hard enough to bruise and shoved it into a machine that looked more like a torture device than a scanner.

I kept my face impassive as the metal bands clamped shut. In my many years of travel, I have yet to encounter a chip-reader that doesn't hurt like a bastard. And the older they are, the more uncomfortable they prove to be. This one appeared decidedly 21st century. The thing finally released me, and I looked at the new tattoo on my forearm that showed my dates of arrival and departure in fresh red ink. Two months; plenty of time.

The nameless official studied a holographic projection of me (from my Ministry of Magic record, so not the most distinguished physical representation) displayed in front of him along with my biographical information. “English, huh? We don’t get many of you.” 

“Yes.” The first rule of life as a traveling magizoologist? Never volunteer information. Trust me on this.

A grunt. “First time in America?”

“Yes.” And the last too, if I can help it, thank you very much.

“Hard copy?” The guard rifling through my bag held the grubby little book like it might explode in his face. That’s no way to treat fine literature. “‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’?” 

“It’s...a sort of travelogue,” I mumbled with my best disarming shrug. “Very informative.” 

Rule number two: Always know where your towel is. I’ve even discovered a few uses for mine that the Guide doesn’t mention. And it’s just a good read. I feel like Arthur Dent or Ford Prefect on most days, depending on the situation.

“Huh. Never seen a real hard copy before. Bet it’d be worth a few credits at least.” He returned my rucksack with a smile that displayed several missing teeth. "Welcome to New York. Go straight ahead and through the terminal."

"Thank you." 

The exit door opened, and I escaped back into the chilly afternoon with relief. The hulking edifice before me served as a decaying monument to the transportation gods of centuries past, adorned with columns and Greek statuary. I recognized Hercules and Minerva among several others. Words chiseled into the crumbling stone proclaimed it to be Grand Central Station.

It’s the furthest thing from grand I’ve ever seen. The tall windows on either end of the cavernous entrance have long since lost their panes, and the painted fresco ceiling is peeling and faded. With the trains no longer running, shabby stalls selling clothing, food and data chips among other things, clutter the space. Shadowy passageways with discreet signs hint at darker, more-illicit options. 

Among the scents of grease and dust, I recognized a familiar animal tang. Smuggled creatures? Or just something for dinner? Impossible to know, and I didn’t have time to investigate. I’d pre-booked one night in a cheap hostel, and then it was off to someplace called Kansas in the morning. At least, that was the plan. But plans, as I’ve learned over the years, tend to go awry.

I found a quiet, rubble-free corner behind a shoe reseller’s stall, and went through my bag to make sure the customs official didn’t steal anything — besides those ration packs. A quick perusal revealed everything to be all there and safe, thank Merlin, especially my case. If I ever lost it....I pushed the thought aside. Worrying means you suffer twice after all. I guess that should be the most important of my rules since I’m listing them. 

I cast a reflexive notice-me-not spell before using my wand to make a few careful adjustments to my prosthetic right hand and arm. The phantom pain was starting up again, but I knew I could stand it for a while longer. Dragon fire — even remembered — hurts like a bitch; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I don’t like injuring humans or creatures, but sometimes it’s necessary. Which leads me to yet another rule: Always be prepared to defend yourself in hostile territory.

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching in spite of all my precautions, I took out my blue coat and put it on. My wand went into one of the many inner pockets. I love those pockets; they’re so  _ useful _ .

"Why do you still wear that thing?" Theseus asked last time I went home for a visit. "It’s so bright you stick out like a neon sign in a dark room. I should think it would be a liability in your profession." Yes, feel free to groan. Theseus never did pay any attention to the latest fashions. I find it a necessary pursuit if one wishes to blend in. 

Besides, my coat isn’t just stylish. I’ve woven spells into the very fabric for temperature control, protection and misdirection. I’ve layered them for so many years now the coat’s probably more spell than cloth. I’m experimenting with adding demiguise hair every time a hole needs patching, but I can’t tell if it makes a difference in my visibility yet. 

Then, I considered my boots — one of the few things I kept after the horror that was the Eastern European War —- and adjusted the treads to something more suited to a concrete jungle than wilderness. 

The rucksack moved and I put a hand on it. “Get back inside, Dougal. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out again.” Pickett, my bowtruckle, chirped questioningly from somewhere in the depths. “I really shouldn’t….I told you how they feel about creatures here. They’re more apt to eat them than study them….” More chattering. “Alright, but stay in my pocket. Understand?”

He crawled to the flap, and I scooped him up. “There you go.” He has attachment issues, you see, so he likes to be close to me  _ all the time _ . We’re working on getting him reacquainted with his branch. It’s going….slowly. I tucked him in my breast pocket and did up the straps of my bag. 

“Now…Let’s find where we’re staying tonight.” It was a relief when my ancient, off-brand communications relay connected to the local Net with no trouble. I really should get a newer model, but reprogramming all of my enhancements isn’t worth the trouble. After a bit of stuttering, a yellow directional arrow appeared in front of my right eye. I don’t like my vision obscured, but such things do come in handy.

I made my way through the crowd of shoppers, buskers, druggies and outright homeless, keeping to the edges as much as possible. Through the broad exit doors and onto the sidewalk, clogged with yet more people. So many! Where do they all come from? More to the point: why do they stay?

The arrow guided me to the right, toward a riot of lights and sound that is the combination entertainment and red-light district. It made sense my lodgings would be there, but I would’ve preferred somewhere quieter. A lurid hologram outside a brothel caught my attention, and I wondered how much female companionship might cost. Probably more than I wanted to pay and not just in credits. Who knows what sort of infections they carry? It didn’t look regulated like the businesses in Tokyo or Dubai.

I couldn’t help missing the glorious cities of the Far East. Compared to them, New York is a broken, depressing hulk full of rundown buildings in shades of brown and gray with the occasional splash of graffiti for color. The people, at least, are similar to those the world over, hooked into the Net and ignoring everything and everyone around them. Most have colorful tattoos on necks, faces and arms, though none of the decorations I saw appeared to be moving. 

Curious, I allowed myself to wander deeper into the warren of pubs, restaurants, gaming dens, theaters and massage parlors. Packed into these few blocks are enough amusements to keep the people of New York and their visitors distracted and docile while the corporations get on with the business of making money. 

Here and there I glimpsed men and women in long, dark coats who melted into the shadows when I looked closer. I knew from my reading and talking to Theseus that these were Aurors with the Magical Congress of the United States — wizarding officers charged with making sure the magical and Muggle — sorry, I’m old-fashioned — Techie populations don’t intermingle too freely. It’s not as regulated as it used to be a century or two ago when Rappaport’s Law still existed, but things are still pretty unreasonable if you ask me. 

“This great city sparkles with the jewels of man’s invention….space travel, air cars, the Net, neon lights, all dazzle and bewitch us!” 

The female voice was charismatic and earnest, and it caught my ear over the music blaring from the open doors of a nearby restaurant. Some sort of street preacher, apparently. Intrigued, I moved closer; it’s always interesting to observe the cultural and religious beliefs of the peoples I encounter. 

The crowd around the building, a recreation center, going by the sign, was so thick, the speaker was nearly hidden from view. So I pushed my way to the front, accidentally bumping into someone as I passed. I was trying to be careful, honestly, but it was tight. Huge, brown eyes gazed reproachfully at me from a scowling face.

“Oh….so sorry.” 

The last thing I needed was to upset someone this early into my visit. In my memory, I heard my brother’s laughter. “You always upset people, little Newt.” 

The woman on the small stage wore drab clothing, and her hair and skin were their natural colors in complete disregard of the latest fashions, which call for as much vibrancy and decoration as possible. A few scruffy teeners passed out data chips to unwilling takers. But it was the banner behind them that really stood out: a pair of hands grasping what was unmistakably a broken wizard’s wand against a background of red and orange flames. Not pleasant. I was suddenly very glad I was only staying for one night.

I shuffled over to the side so as not to block anyone else’s view, and set my rucksack on the ground beside me. Might has well have a listen if I wanted to avoid these fanatics in the future. There was plenty of time before dark when no sane person would be out on the streets.

“But there are some who do not appreciate our modern marvels,” the woman went on. “They hold themselves apart, and technology is anathema to them. Yes, friends! I speak of witches and wizards, those worshipers of nature who refuse to join our enlightened society.” 

I refrained from rolling my eyes. It wasn't the first diatribe I’ve heard that casts wizards as opposed to technology. But none of them get it completely right. All Muggles have at least one implant, required by law and inserted soon after birth, that allows them to access the Net and tracks everything they do. Wizards do use technology since it’s pretty much required these days, and some — usually members of the government — have the Net implant. It’s just a tradeoff: decreased magical ability for added technological convenience. Magic can’t do everything, after all. 

Someone slammed into me from behind and stumbled over my bag. Guess I wasn’t the only one with two left feet! I helped haul him up, he was shorter than me and heavier but it was my right arm so no trouble at all, before forcing myself to look him in the face. “I’m so sorry….my bag.”

“No harm done.” He smoothed down his hair and kept going toward the rec, ignoring the doomsayers entirely. Probably a smart thing to do. Sadly, I wasn’t so lucky. Before I could get away, the woman looked right at me, pointing. Doesn’t she know that’s impolite?

“You! Friend!” Her voice strove for jocular intimacy but fell short, edging into stridency. “What drew you to our meeting today?”

I admit it: I blushed. I hate to be stared at about as much as I hate having to make conversation.  “Oh, I was….just passing….” 

“Are you a seeker? A seeker after the truth?”

I couldn’t resist, even though I knew no one else would get the joke. “I’m more of a chaser, really.” I was too tall to be a seeker and too light to be a beater; so that left chaser. I only played during my second year, but we had a pretty good season. We weren’t last in the standings for House Cup, at least.

A familiar small and furry shape moved behind the woman on the steps of the rec center. As the stout man opened the door, Oran nosed inside. Bloody niffler. The  _ last _ thing I needed was for him to get loose in there. All nifflers like shiny things — it’s just  _ part  _ of them — but Oran has always been attracted to technology: chips and circuits and the like. You do  _ not  _ want him around any type of machinery. 

“Excuse me!” I grabbed my bag and pushed through the crowd again, not caring who I bumped into this time. I shoved open the doors and looked around for the dratted creature, trying my hardest to ignore the stink of sweat wafting from the exercise stations.

Beyond the reception area were several terminals for long-distance communication. The stout man was seating himself at one with an anxious and unhappy expression. I was about to move on to the next room, when Oran squeezed into the tiny gap beneath the console, looking for a way to get inside it. Just brilliant. 

I sat down at the next terminal and logged in, trying to act casual, which I’ve never been able to do. I don’t know why that is. People always assume I’m hiding something even when I’m not. It’s a smidge hurtful, to be honest.

Something bumped my foot and without looking, I reached down and eased open the top of the rucksack. Oran has never has gone back on his own, but I keep hoping. 

Beside me, the stout man was chatting to someone in Polish.  _ Babciu _ , his grandmother, then. I translated automatically while pretending to look up the cost of a vid call to my publisher back in England. I’ve managed to pick up bits and pieces of dozens of languages over the years. Another rule of life as a traveling magizoologist: Knowledge of the local tongue can help you tell the difference between, “Welcome to our village,” and “Kill him!”

“I’m sorry, grandma. They wouldn’t give me the loan.”

From the corner of my eye, I watched Oran creep out and sniff around the open bag.

_ "Did you have them taste your  _ pączki _ or the  _ sernik _? How could anyone say no to them?” _

The man gave a pained sigh before leaning back, causing the booth to creak warningly. Oran froze, eyes wide before creeping forward. “It wasn’t that,  _ babciu. _ They wanted something of mine to keep in exchange for the loan, so I would be sure to pay it back.”

_ “Of course you would, Jakub! And  _ I _ would like to give these  _ przedsiębiorcy _ a piece of my mind!” _

I was just taking one of Oran’s favorite gold coins from my pocket when the brat gave me a go-to-hell look and darted out from under the chair in a streak of brown fur and scrabbling claws. He shot through a door labeled Games and Sports, disappearing from view.

“Merlin’s beard!” I jumped up so quickly that my coat snagged on the chair which teetered on two legs. I felt something rip before I pulled free and hurried after the little pest.

The room beyond was filled with various motion-based simulations. I’m not a gamer, but I suppose such devices must provide a novel experience to those used to the immersive, everyday experience on the Net. Unfortunately, they’re also the two things Oran loves most in the world: shiny tech.

I started a slow circuit of the perimeter, peering into, under and around each noisy, blinking contraption. Only a few were occupied, and the participants ignored me. Thank Morgana for small favors.

Something moved in a back corner. I eased my wand out and made a tiny adjustment to my artificial arm before holding it up. The niffler sailed across the room, and its furry tummy smacked into my now magnetic palm with a clink from all the metal in there.

“Got you.” I stuffed him back into my rucksack before he could squirm away again. “Dougal, look after him, would you? And lock up behind yourselves. There’s a good lad.”

I turned around to leave, only to find myself face-to-face with Jacob the Muggle. Blast. I thought he was too busy with his call to notice me.

“Uh, you left this back there.” He held out a silver egg cradled in both hands. “I think it’s hatching.” 

Shit. I’d known the occamy was close, but not quite this close. Carefully, I took the egg as it gave a noticeable shake. “Hush….Mummy’s here.” I nodded at Jacob. “Thank you. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket.”

His eyes were wide with curiosity as the egg wobbled again. “What were you chasing, anyway?” He looked around, and I thanked the gods that he hadn’t seen Oran. Finally, something was going right with this insane day.

“Oh, I wasn’t….” But I was spared from explaining when the egg rocked violently, a crack appearing on the shiny surface. A sharp beak enlarged the hole and the chick poked its head out, feathered blue scales damp. “There you are….” I slowly crouched down and, holding the baby in one hand, eased out my case and flipped the latches.“In you hop. No, everyone settle down — stay. Dougal, don’t make me come down there.” 

When I stood up, Jacob took a couple of steps back, eying me with familiar but tiring suspicion. “What the  _ hell  _ was that?”

“Nothing that need concern you.” I took out my wand to cast the memory charm and he shifted his attention to my hand, obviously fascinated. They’re one of the few spells I can honestly say I’m an expert with. “Now, unfortunately, you have seen far too much, so if you wouldn’t mind — if you would just stand there — this will be over in a jiffy.” 

The sound of multiple pairs of heavy feet interrupted me, and we both froze. 

“They went in here, sir.” It was a woman’s voice, thick with an accent I could barely puzzle out.

Jacob looked terrified, which told me all I needed to know about the local law enforcement. Getting arrested was not part of the plan, and certainly not with a Muggle towaround! Reacting with the instinct that saved my life on numerous occasions, I did the only thing I could: I grabbed Jacob firmly by the arm and disapparated us. 


	2. Just a Couple of Sisters

Jacob looked around wildly as we reappeared in an alley just down the street from the rec center. I was impressed that he didn’t throw up but too concerned with making sure we hadn’t been spotted to dwell on it. 

He staggered against a wall, looking around blankly. “I was in there….I was in there and now….”

“You’re fine.” I raised my wand. “Now I’m terribly sorry to have to do this, but I promise it won’t hurt one bit.”

He stared at me and then my wand, but instead of being reassured, he lashed out. A meaty fist connected solidly with my chin, slamming my head against the wall. Dazed and clinging to consciousness, I watched through half-open eyes as he turned tail and ran, not looking back, the opportunistic fucker.

“Bugger….this is….not a good day.” My diagnostic chip kicked in and performed a standard check. Blurred vision, slurred speech, headache. The familiar voice, I swear it sounded tired, said, “Concussion detected. Would you like to blunt visual and auditory stimuli?” 

“I bloody well could’ve told you that,” I groused at it, shaking my head to try to clear it, “and no, I don’t.”

I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t obey me. “Rest for a wee bit then,” I slurred when the alley whirled around me. Automatically, I tucked my wand back into my coat, so I wouldn’t drop it. I let my eyes close, but that triggered a blaring klaxon in my ears. “Fuck off.” I know my body better than some bloody piece of circuitry, thank you, no matter how much it nagged at me. I wanted to sleep, and I was going to. Concussions really fuck you up, and I obviously wasn’t in my right mind or I’d have realized the danger.

“Well, well….what have we here?” 

Was that supposed to be witty? If so, it missed the mark by a few light years. I pried my eyes open with a great force of will and managed to lift my head. Four young toughs — you know, the standard buff, gang member sort — were staring down at me.

“Looks blotto,” one said, tapping a metal bar against his palm. “Don’t think he’ll be no trouble.” 

“Nah, he’s loony.” Another bent down and hefted my rucksack as I watched, temporarily unable to muster the energy to protest. “Let’s see what we got here. Sorry pal, but finders-keepers and all that.” 

I struggled to stand, yell, fight them off, anything. But the signals from my addled brain weren’t reaching my muscles. Through the haze, I struggled to reach my wand again. Maybe I should have it permanently attached to my arm.  

They had my bag dumped out and were grabbing up the rest of my ration packs before they noticed the case. 

“What’s this? Must be really good tech....” The one who seemed to be the leader turned it over roughly.

I wanted to tell him to get his bloody hands off it, but all that came out was a pathetic croak. 

“Some kinda safe, maybe.” He set it down and leaned over me so I could smell the stimulant — not one I was familiar with — on his breath. “You wanna tell us what’s in here?”

I planted my non-organic hand in the middle of his chest and  _ shoved _ . He flew a remarkable distance down the alley and his body hit the wall with a satisfying crunch. 

The rest of them were on me then, attacking wherever they could reach and nearly overwhelming me in a miasma of body odor and off-brand cologne. I got in a few good hits thanks to my arm and hand, but even with my enhancements, three against one just isn’t sporting.

"Hey! Back off!"

The voice was familiar, but I didn’t have time to check as I ducked a vicious kick from one thug and the swing of a pipe from another. My rescuer waded in, punching with the weight and precision of someone who'd joined in more than one bare-knuckles brawl in his time.

Through my swollen left eye, I watched as Jacob put the gang to flight. I sagged against the wall, feeling the sharp pain that heralds broken ribs. And they had just healed after that run-in with the smugglers in Egypt the month before, too!

"Damn. I think that was mostly my fault, wasn't it?" Jacob held out a broad hand. "Can you stand up? Did they take anything?"

I let him pull me to my feet, trying to breathe shallowly and not aggravate my injuries. "My bag...." Healing could wait until I was sure my babies were safe. 

Jacob handed it to me. "Looks like they went through all your stuff. I'm real sorry I hit you like that."

"What the hell's going on here?" The dark-eyed woman from the crowd in front of the rec center was standing in the mouth of the alley, staring from one to the other of us with unbridled suspicion. “He’s a techie.”

“Um, yes?” I had the feeling I was missing something important but there was no time to discern it. I wondered if it had been her voice we’d heard earlier. Automatically, I looked her over the way I do every new human or creature I encounter. My database chip logs all the details for later, more leisurely perusal and documentation.

Her hair was a dark purple fuzz about a half inch long, and I noticed an enhancement access plate on the left side of her head. She stood tall in her boots, nearly my height, and her clothes hung on a slender frame that was tending toward skeletal. Dark circles under her eyes and an ashen complexion added to my assumption that she’d been very ill recently and had yet to recover.

She wore understated silver hoops in both ears and a tiny blue gem in her left nostril, but all this paled in comparison to the tattoo marring her forehead. It read TRAITOR in messy black letters, more than three fingers high. 

She took a few mincing steps toward us as though she was walking on hot coals. I wrenched my eyes away from her face to watch as another tattoo in shimmering golden ink moved on the pale skin of her upper chest exposed by her unfastened navy jacket. Some sort of bird? I couldn't tell, but it was enough to let me know that she was a witch. 

“Who are you? And what the hell was that thing?” 

The creature on her chest was so distracting I had trouble looking anywhere else. “I’m sorry?” 

“Who. Are. You.” She enunciated each word clearly as though I was mentally impaired, her brown eyes flashing dangerously

I wasn't used to dealing with a human this prickly. Well, I don't like dealing with humans at all if I can help it, but this sort of uncalled for belligerence was beyond my experience. “Newt Scamander. And you are?” 

“Tina Goldstein.” She reached into her coat and took out a wallet, flipping it open to show an ID card with an eagle and the word MACUSA stamped across it. On its miniature screen, a holographic image rotated showing her profile from all angles.

A government worker; just wonderful. “What are you, some kind of auror?” Probably undercover, which would explain why she wasn’t wearing the distinctive long coat. 

She hesitated before nodding, a bit reluctantly. “Uh-huh.” She turned to Jacob who appeared to have been trying to sneak away. “And who are you?” 

“Jacob….Kowalski. Uh, we didn’t do nothin’, officer....”

Tina turned back to me accusingly. “What was that thing in the rec center?” 

Bollocks, I thought no one else saw that. “That was my niffler. He’s incorrigible, you see. Anything shiny, he’s all over the place....” I stumbled to a halt realizing that the more I said, the angrier she became. No, not just angry — afraid. 

“Did anything else get out?” She was looking a bit panicky, sweat beading around the tattoo. She swiped at it while trying and failing to hold back a grimace of pain. 

I tried to sound as authoritative as possible. “No, everyone’s safe, I assure you.” The fact that I was slurring, tongue addled from the concussion, didn't help.

She advanced, standing toe-to-toe with me and lifting her chin. “Mr. Scamander, do you know  _ anything _ about the wizarding community in America?” 

I straightened, feeling my own ire rising despite the fact that I was seeing double. “I do know a few things, actually,” I bit out and maintained determined eye contact when her jaw set. “I know you have rather backward laws about relations with non-magic people. You aren’t supposed to befriend them, and marrying them is frowned upon.”

Tina rolled her eyes and made a rude gesture. “Who’s going to marry  _ him _ ?”

Jacob shot her an affronted look, but she ignored it to turn away. “You’re both coming with me.”

“I don’t see why I need to come with you,” I retorted, done playing nice. How did this day go so wrong? I just wanted to find my hotel and feed my creatures, not deal with all....this.

She glared, and I was reminded strongly of Theseus. “You’re consorting with a techie and letting dangerous creatures loose. I’m taking you to my boss.”

Jacob made a strangled sound of protest, and her stern expression softened along with her belligerent tone. “If your chips are in order, you’ll be free to go; I promise. There’s just a lot going on right now, and we need to make sure of everyone.” 

She tipped her head imperiously while banding her fingers around my arm, and Jacob shrugged before following. I kept my stride short, both to alleviate her obvious discomfort and to help the ringing in my head.

“So, what’s the trouble then?” I finally ventured, as she guided us through the warren of streets, apparently making for the tallest skyscraper.

Tina yanked on my arm, pulling me out of the path of a ground car that came careening around the corner just as we crossed the street. Behind us, I heard Jacob cursing under his breath as he trotted out of the way. 

“What hasn’t been?” Tina growled, sounding put out. “Buildings all over the city are being destroyed, and we have no idea how. But the big thing was the Net going down last night for about eight hours.”

Surely I misheard. Her accent was fairly strong after all. “The….what? How is that possible?” The Net is worldwide, controlled from the very top. It  _ never  _ goes down. I looked at Jacob for confirmation, but he just shrugged.

“I didn’t notice ‘til I tried to get the news this morning. I don’t stay plugged in all the time. Got better things to do.”

Tina looked suspicious, I guess at a techie who’s not connected 24/7 but held her tongue. “You’re obviously not from around here, Mr. Scamander. What are you doing in New York?”

“I came to buy a birthday present....” It sounded weak even to my own ears.

Her skeptical expression told me I had one more chance, so I had better make it a good one. Shrugging, I decided to tell the truth. “I’m just passing through. Honestly. I’m making a database of….local animals. I’m heading to Kansas next.”

Jacob laughed derisively. “Nothin’ to see there, buddy. Just lotsa rubble and grass.”

But Tina grunted and seemed to accept this explanation at face-value. “When did you get here?” 

“A few hours ago?” I showed her my arrival and departure tattoo. “I’m not staying long. If you’ll just let me go, I’ll be on my way....”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I told you. They’re checking out everyone suspicious.”

Well, it was worth a try. Gloomily, I struggled to stay positive. I wasn’t breaking any laws that I knew of, and my creatures hadn’t escaped. I shuddered, imagining the chaos _that_ would cause until we stepped onto a wide boulevard and my head tipped back by rote, dizziness be damned.

The skyscraper was easily the most impressive building I’d seen yet, including Grand Central Station. A carved owl over the entrance turned its head to look down at us. Jacob didn’t notice; I think he was counting the number of floors, mouth hanging slightly open. Perhaps the area normally had illusion charms or a hologram hiding it from Muggle eyes.

Tina led us to the red liveried doorman who wore a discreet gold pin with the MACUSA eagle. “I need to see Mr. Graves, Sam. I got a foreigner and a techie who’ve been causing trouble.” 

The man was shorter than Tina, but he made up for it with an officious manner that turned my stomach. I’ve run into plenty such political lackeys in my time and I attempted to stand straighter on instinct. He didn’t bother to notice. 

“Mr. Graves has given orders not to be disturbed. I will summon Mr. Abernathy.” He took a folded piece of parchment from the small case on his belt and set it on the ground. The missive expanded into a paper mouse which scurried under the door and out of sight.

Tina sighed and leaned against the wall beside me to wait. I started to ask why we couldn’t just go right on inside the way other people were doing, but she held up a hand. “Shut it.” 

We loitered a good ten minutes, long enough to catch a chill and for my cybernetics to give me a stern dressing-down before the door opened and a second official stepped out, his polished shoes and gleaming hair in complete contrast with Tina’s more casual attire. “Goldstein, what is it with you?”

She flushed and raised her chin with assumed confidence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Abernathy. I’m just trying to do my job.”

He took her arm, not gently, and pulled her out of earshot. Well, from Jacob, maybe. I discreetly adjusted my hearing until the conversation — or confrontation, really — was audible.

“Come on, Abernathy!” Tina’s face was growing redder by the minute, embarrassment and frustration mingling in her expression. “I got a Section 3A, here! I need to see Mr. Graves.”

“Sorry, Goldstein.” Abernathy didn’t sound sorry at all, but gleeful at Tina’s predicament. “There’s standing orders from President Picquery herself not to allow you back into the building until your suspension is up. And even then, you’ll be down in wand permits with your sister.” He flicked his gaze to me and Jacob. “Not hauling in the gutter trash. That’s an auror’s job, and you aren’t one anymore.” He turned away, smirking. “Enjoy the rest of your vacation.”

Tina hung her head, and I had the uneasy feeling she was fighting tears. But when she came back over to us, her eyes were dry. 

“So….now what?’ Jacob asked, clearly wary of inciting her temper again. But the reprimand appeared to have deflated her, and she answered him without heat.

“I’m taking you both home with me.” She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “The least I can do is offer you dinner in exchange for wasting your time.”

Jacob and I looked at each other. Mollified or not, this was quite a change of behavior for one former auror Goldstein — the tattoo made a nauseating kind of sense now — and I was wary. But I was also hungry, tired and my head was all cocked up.

Jacob had cheered noticeably at the mention of “dinner” and I didn’t blame him. Most people don’t use that word unless they’re talking about real, cooked food rather than something reheated from a packet. He gave me a devil-may-care grin. “Why not? I got no place else to be.”

I did, but not until the next day. I would eat dinner, hopefully learn more about the intriguing Tina, find my hotel and leave for Kansas in the morning. “That’s settled, then. Lead on, Miss Goldstein.”

*

I had expected something drab and cold in keeping with the rest of the city, but the Goldstein apartment surprised me with its warmth and light. It was small certainly: one room served as a combination living space and kitchen, a closed door presumably led to a bath, and I glimpsed two even smaller bedrooms. The furniture was worn but serviceable with a dining table, sofa and corner hutch filled with trinkets. A desk and easy chair stood under the sheer-curtained window overlooking the street, positioned to catch all the rapidly fading winter sunlight.   
  
Nothing matched, but together it gave off a homey, lived-in vibe, and I felt my shoulders relaxing.    
  
Then, I noticed the other woman and tensed up again. I couldn't help it: legilimens make me uncomfortable. I didn't see her blond curls accented with pink, or her perfectly made up face or even the form-fitting navy dress that gave her the look of a fashion model from another era. No, it was her blue eyes that grabbed me. As soon as I made the mistake of looking up, I felt her in my head, nosing around. Oh, she was polite enough. She didn't rummage like someone in a junk shop, just browsed my neatly labeled memories for the briefest of moments before withdrawing.   
  
"Please don't read my mind," I said, but I really couldn't fault her for it. Everyone has enhancements, and you can't take anything at face value. I've even heard of people who've tried to make their eyes shoot lasers. How absurd is that?    
  
She patted my arm comfortingly and beamed at me and Jacob as though strange men showed up at her door every day. Perhaps they did.   
  
"Gentlemen, this is my sister, Queenie." Tina shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it toward a hook on the wall. It missed, and she glared at it balefully before sighing. "Can we feed two more, Queen?"   
  
Jacob was slack-jawed as Queenie waved a delicate hand. "Oh, sure! We've got plenty. I’m real glad to meet you both." Her words were directed at both of us but it was Jacob she was speaking to, her eyes sparkling. Interesting.   
  
We went through the awkward ritual of introductions while Tina corralled all the chairs around the small table. I guess she felt safe here in her own home because she barely hid the pain she was in. Even slow and deliberate movements made her bite her lip.   
  
At one point, Queenie broke off chatting with Jacob to take down a bottle of red liquid from the cupboard over the stove. "Here, Teenie - come take your potion."   
  
Tina scowled at her sister and pursed her lips. "I'll do it before bed. You know it makes me sleepy. I'm fine."   
  
Queenie didn’t bat an eyelash, obviously used to her sister’s obstinance. "Well sit down then. The fellas will help me get the food on the table." Her smile was dazzling and all for Jacob. "Won't you?"    
  
Of course, we did. Jacob, who seemed to know something about cooking, odd for a techie, that, put the bread in the oven while I set the table with mismatched plates and cutlery. The menial task allowed me to dampen my auditory and visual inputs, bringing instant relief. My AI muttered at me darkly before setting to work on my breaks and bruises.   
  
Tina watched us with the frustration of an active person forced to slow down because of an injury. As I placed a glass at her elbow, I ventured, "I have some potions and balms that might help in my workshop. I can show you after dinner, if you like."    
  
She looked confused, brow wrinkling adorably. "Your workshop?"   
  
Ah. I'd forgotten she didn't know about the contents of my case. I don't tell many people, but Tina....intrigued me. Made me wonder if perhaps she wouldn’t like to know  _ all _ my secrets.…

Alright, I was attracted to her on a baser level; let's be honest. But I wasn't ready to think about that just yet. Instead, I took the box which contained my life’s work from my rucksack and set it gently on the table. "In here."    
  
Her brow furrowed. "An undetectable extension charm?" She stroked the cool metal alloy with slender fingers — her nails were metallic purple to match her hair — as her eyes shone with something like awe. "In this little thing?"    
  
There was the potential for a joke, or perhaps an insult, and I couldn’t help but smirk a little — didn’t she know that you should never judge something by its initial size? "Yes, well, I've been working on it for a long time. Anyway, I think I might be able to help you."    
  
Oh, she flared up at that. "What makes you think I need help?"   
  
I heard Queenie snort, but ignored her in favor of answering honestly (sometimes I surprise even myself). "Because I know what pain looks like, Miss Goldstein." I pushed up the right sleeve of my jacket and showed her the control panel on my inner wrist just visible beneath the synthetic skin. "I've had this for eight years, and it still hurts off and on. And today it's hurting quite a lot."   
  
She reached out as if to touch me and stopped, a blush rising in her face. "How did this happen?"    
  
Jacob sat down beside me, and Queenie began to serve the food, a roast of some sort, vegetables, bread and water. It was definitely a feast, and I was glad I'd agreed to stay. I don't get to enjoy real food very often. I can cook, but I usually have more important things to do.    
  
I took a sip from my glass to moisten my suddenly dry mouth as the three of them waited for my reply. Like I said, just being around humans is hard for me. But there I was telling mere strangers about something very personal.    
  
"You heard about the Eastern European War?” I began, feeling my way around the subject. “It ended in 3018."   
  
"Sure," Jacob said, swallowing a mouthful of potatoes. "I was there — drafted. Just got back a couple’a years ago."   
  
His expression turned sad, and Queenie frowned before squeezing his hand. "Aw, I'm sorry you lost your brother, honey."    
  
He gaped at her, gobsmacked "You can read my mind? Do you have one of those experimental chips?"    
  
She gave him a sweet smile. "Nope. I was born with it. Don’t worry, most guys think what you was thinkin' first time they see me. You're a good one; I can tell."   
  
He coughed and turned back to me, hastily. "Anyway, yeah I was in France and a few other places. Expeditionary forces."    
  
My respect for him went up a notch. "I didn't realize America had anyone in that fight."    
  
He shrugged. "Not many, no, but we saw plenty of action. So how'd you lose it?" He nodded at my arm matter-of-factly, and I found myself appreciating his lack of pity. Even Theseus doesn't really understand. He tries, but he wasn't there.    
  
"It was a stupid accident." I studied my plate while I talked, tracing patterns in the gravy with my fork. I'm still embarrassed even now just to think about it. "The dragon I was working with was upset by some nearby shelling. I got a wee bit too close just as she flamed, and...."    
  
"Dragon?!"    
  
The chorus of three voices made me jump. "Um, yes. I was in charge of an experimental project that trained dragons to carry riders into battle. I didn't want to do it — it's cruel for the beasts and the men — but I didn't have a choice. I was with the Ministry of Magic and I was the only one who was good with beasts so they —."    
  
Jacob put a hand on my left arm, cutting off my babbling. "Hey, calm down, buddy. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm sorry for askin'. I got stuff I don't talk about neither."

I took a few deep breaths, struggling to calm myself. I hadn't expected the memories to hit me so hard.   
  
After a minute, Jacob said, "I didn’t know dragons are real. I mean, you hear stories, but I figured it was just a good drug vision, you know?"   
  
"No, they exist." Tina said, surprising me. "Or they used to. Maybe the Interior still has a few, but no one who’s gone out there has come back to say for sure. The only animals we have left around here are a few birds.” She made a face. “Everything else has been eaten.”   
  
I nodded and took a bite of my roast, still uncomfortable with meeting anyone's eyes. "That's the main reason I'm here. I'm compiling a database of magical creatures. I think Betty would like another dragon to keep her company. She does get lonely, you know. So...."    
  
"You....have a dragon?" Jacob ventured, pausing with his fork halfway to his mouth.    
  
"Named Betty?" Queenie clapped her hands in delight. "That's the berries! Can we meet her?"   
  
Tina just stared at me. I felt all the blood in my body rush to my face, and Queenie giggled. I can't hide anything from a good legilimens, damn it. I tried to concentrate on her question, but it was hard — so to speak.   
  
"Oh! Of....of course. If you want to. She's really very friendly and...."   
  
The other three burst into excited conversation, Jacob’s booming laughter loudest of all. Even Tina was watching me with warmer eyes, or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part. Either way, we finished eating rather quickly after that.


	3. Inside the Case

"Don't worry about the dishes!" Queenie said, practically bouncing in her eagerness to explore new things. "Let's go!" 

They crowded around me, staring at the case as if it was about to explode; it was really quite funny. I set it gently in the middle of the living room floor before raising my hands. "Step back, please."   
  
When they were a safe distance away, I tapped the top of the case with my wand. It expanded to about five times its original size, the brushed metal gleaming mellowly in the dim light of the room.

I unfastened the catches and raised the lid. “Come on.” I took in their shocked expressions and smirked. I always forget how it must look to see someone disappear inside something that looks, from the outside at least, like an ordinary piece of luggage.

As I descended the ladder, I heard Jacob mutter, “This is crazy. What did you do today Jacob? I was inside a suitcase.”

I waited for them nervously at the bottom, kicking a pile of books (yes, I have more than a few. It’s a hobby.) aside to make room. I don’t get so many visitors at a time or any visitors at all, really. Tina was last, moving with extreme caution. As she neared the floor I reached out to take her arm. “Please be careful.”

She shot me a dirty look, steadying herself before letting go of the rungs. Jacob was examining the potted plants lined up on the windowsill. Queenie was peering at my potion collection with bright interest, and to my relief, she kept her hands firmly to herself.

“You have acromantula venom? Isn’t that supposed to be really rare?” She dropped me a wink. “Teenie’s squad busted some illegal potion sellers last year that wanted 200 dragots for an itty-bitty vial.”

Tina glared at me. “That’s a very good question. It’s also illegal for private citizens to possess or distribute.”

I shrugged out of my coat, allowing Pickett to climb from my breast pocket and onto the desk before holding open the workshop door. “I’m sure it’s not the only thing I’ve got down here that’s technically illegal. Are you going to arrest me again, or would you like to meet Betty first?” I gestured for them to proceed me out into the habitats. 

Tina huffed, but her mouth turned up the tiniest bit at the corner as she passed me. Queenie smiled approvingly before brushing past, and Jacob followed. I took that as a good sign considering that chronic aches and pains can make a person irritable. Theseus tells me I was a _bear_ while recovering in hospital after being sent home from the war missing most of one limb.

As I had expected, there was an unholy fuss from all quarters as soon as I stepped outside. A deafening racket of roars, trumpeting, squeals, squeaks, squawks, and chitterings drowned out any attempt at conversation.

“What’s the problem?” Jacob asked with his hands clamped over his ears.

“I’m so sorry. Everyone’s hungry. I fed them before my flight and I haven’t had the chance since. They’re a few hours overdue.” I leaned down and scooped up Oran who was making a beeline for the silver buckles on Tina’s boots. “Behave, you.”

Tina had the good grace to look abashed. “Can we help you feed them? Before we meet Betty, I mean?” Her expression was one of equal parts amazement and horror — probably at how illegal the whole setup was. Not that I cared about forms and permits anyway, but I did care about what she thought, sod it all. I latched onto the amazement and made myself determined to get her over her fear.

“Good idea! Just show us what to do, honey!” Queenie said. She took a pale pink wand from a pocket of her skirt. “Do you use magic or do it all by hand?” She gazed around at the metal ceiling and walls, just visible through the foliage, with open awe. “It’s quite a setup you got here.”

I was a little taken aback by the offer but pleased just the same. The work would go quicker with more hands. “Thank you. I’d appreciate the help. And I usually do it by hand.”

Jacob was looking at Queenie’s wand with curiosity. “Never seen one of those up close before. What’s it made of, some sorta crystal?”

She held it up with obvious pride. “Yep, rose quartz with a phoenix tail feather for the core.” She showed him the gold banding around the handle. “They use wood overseas — like Mr. Scamander’s, but here it’s not easy to find. So they use stone instead, mostly semi-precious but some of the older families have ruby or emerald wands. They’re real fancy.”

“And expensive,” Tina muttered, as I led them around the side of the workshop to where I keep the feed bins and buckets.

“What’s yours?” I asked, slowing down to walk beside her. I ran through a list of possible treatments I already had made up as I observed her gait. I’d need to ask a few questions to determine just what was causing her pain and why.

She slid it from her leg holster and held it out for my inspection. “Lapis lazuli and a thunderbird tail feather.” The dark blue stone glowed with golden inclusions like a winter sky on a clear night, and the handle had been entirely wrapped in gold. The overall impression was one of restrained power that made me wonder how good she might be at dueling.

The thought of her fighting: all dark, flashing eyes and focused movements made me a bit weak in the knees. I appreciate a strong woman, but I’m not usually their type. More often than not, I just get in the way and eventually forgotten.

Tina was looking at me oddly, and I realized we had stopped walking. “It, uh....It suits you.” I cleared my throat and tried to keep my mind on the matter at hand. You can’t afford not to be paying attention around magical creatures. My experience in the war taught me that if nothing else.

“This shouldn’t take us long….just the mooncalves, kelpies, fwooper and the erumpent are behind schedule right now. The rest can wait until tomorrow morning.” I used to keep feeding schedules and notes on my comm unit, but with the database chip, I only have to think about the information in order to bring it to mind.

Tina and Queenie’s eyes grew larger with each creature I listed.

“We read about all those in school,” Queenie whispered. “But I never thought I’d really see them one day.”

I passed her a small pail of feed for the mooncalves. “And now you can meet them as well.”

When everyone was equipped, we made our way between the various enclosures. I keep a sharp eye to make sure everyone — human and creature alike — was well-behaved. Oran tried two more times to go for Tina’s shoes before she tossed him a gold token with a reassuring, “Don’t worry, it’s not worth anything.”

Ethel the erumpent was very taken with Jacob for some reason. If I didn’t know better I would’ve said she fancied him. Jacob, on the other hand, didn’t return her affections and had to hide behind a giggling Queenie while I performed an elaborate dance to lure her away.

By the time we put away the empty buckets, my new friends had managed to get their laughter under control, the noise level had dropped back to normal, and I felt we could take a few minutes to visit with Betty.

“She’s just through here.” I gestured toward the desert habitat. “Obviously, her breed isn’t from a hot climate, but all dragons like the heat.”

We approached the high rock outcrop where Betty likes to snooze, and I whistled her favorite jig. A moment later, she glided down to land beside me and bump the back of my legs.

“Shit!” Jacob stumbled back a few steps to avoid her wings. She’s about half the size of a normal, adult Welsh Green — approximately nine meters long from snout to tail, but I supposed that’s large when you’ve never seen a dragon before.

“Hello, darling. How are you?” She rubbed her head against my knee and purred. “I’ve got your dinner right here.” I emptied the pail of meat into her trough, but she ignored it in favor of stretching her neck toward her visitors.

Tina and Jacob were crowded against the wall, eyes comically round. Queenie looked intrigued, head tilted to the side as Betty cooed softly.

“You can come closer. She’s a glutton for attention, I’m afraid.”

Of course, Queenie was the first to approach. She patted Betty’s neck before scritching behind her ear finial. “Yes, you’re a sweetie, aren’t you? And so pretty, too.…”

Betty preened, the little hussy, fluttering her wings and nuzzling Queenie’s hand for more scratches. Jacob finally sidled over, looking awed and a little overwhelmed.

“Hey, Newt? I don’t think I’m dreaming,” he said when Betty turned her attention to him, butting into his hand.

That made me laugh. Being around my creatures makes _me_ happy, but I’d never realized they could do the same for other people. “What gave it away?”

“‘Cause I ain’t got the brains to make this up.” Betty snorted as if in agreement and he chuckled.

To my surprise, Tina held back, clutching her wand tightly and biting her lip. “Are you sure she’s safe?”

I offered my hand to her before lowering my eyes, trying to hide my smile. “Perfectly. She was born and raised in captivity — that’s why she’s so small. She loves people.”

Queenie waved to us from where she was rubbing Betty’s belly, earning a series of rumbling groans. “Teenie, come meet her!”

Tina inched a little closer. “She won’t — what did you call it? — flame, will she? And she doesn’t have the pox?”

“She can’t flame.” I still get angry when I recall how Betty looked when I rescued her. No, I won’t tell you — it’s too awful. “The wizard who owned her removed the glands as soon as she hatched. As for dragon pox, that’s carried by Peruvian Vipertooths. She’s perfectly safe.”

She took my hand and I pulled her gently over to the others. Soon, she was laughing as Betty licked her cheek with her cat-like tongue. When I tore my gaze away, Queenie was watching me thoughtfully.

“Dragon pox killed our folks,” she said quietly, stepping closer. “I was three and Tina was five. The government took us in, and she was chosen for the auror program right off.” She beamed at her sister who was offering a piece of meat to Betty with obvious pride. “It’s a big honor to be chosen to serve.”

I remembered Theseus ranting more than once about how “barbaric” American auror training is. _“They raise them from childhood: isolation, special enhancements, complete loyalty to the state and the law. They might as well be androids!”_ But Tina was far from robotic, even if she did move rather like one. She was warm, passionate and alive in all the ways that mattered.

Betty delicately snared the piece of meat to gobble it down. She huffed and nuzzled against Tina in the search for more, hard enough to knock her off balance. I tensed to intercede but Tina caught herself with a laugh before patting Betty’s jowls. She looked up, eyes shining, and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

_Oh._

Queenie patted my arm, and I knew she’d read my mind again. “Teenie’s had a hard time lately. She could use someone like you to get her outta her slump.”

Tina and Jacob left Betty with some difficulty — she can be a bit possessive — and rejoined us. Tina ran her wand over her hands and then Jacob’s to clean them.

“Are you guys talking about me?” But the words held no heat, and the laughter lingered in her face when she met my eyes.

“I was just tellin' Newt a little about you being an auror,” Queenie said while lacing her arm through Jacob’s.

Tina’s smile faded. “Yeah, and I had to go and fuck it all up.” Self-pity was heavy in her voice, and my heart gave a curious little flip when she looked at me before turning away.

“You did the right thing. If those stuffed shirts can't see that….” Queenie scowled, and I realized that in her own way she was just as fierce as her sister.

“Queenie!” Tina looked terrified, and I wondered if she had some sort of listening or tracking device as part of her punishment by MACUSA. Based on what I’d seen so far, it wouldn’t have surprised me.

Queenie frowned, but she didn't say anything else. She and Jacob dropped back to walk behind us and I heard them chatting quietly. Tina stayed at my side, shuffling along with her shoulders back and a permanent furrow between her brows.

When we reached the workshop, Jacob said, "I'm gonna take Queenie back to my place for a bit. I have some fresh herbs and a few veggies I won't be able to eat before they go bad. My garden's a bit bigger than it was last year."

"You have a garden? I didn't think techies cared about stuff like that." Tina was looking suspicious again, and I didn't blame her this time. Most witches and wizards don't bother with cooking from scratch these days, and fewer yet grow their own food. The Weasleys are the only family I know who even attempt it. Muggles _never_ cook, as far as I’m aware; most flats nowadays don’t even have anything more technical than a rehydrator.

Jacob shrugged. "Just a little one in a greenhouse in my apartment. I have to buy my flour special of course, but the carrots in my carrot cake are the real thing.”

"Huh. I never thought today would be so full of surprises," Tina chuckled.

With them gone, the silence pressed against my ears in a way it never does when I’m alone. I was acutely aware of Tina’s presence here in what I privately call my sanctuary. She shifted from foot to foot looking as uncomfortable as I felt, stealing glances at my face before finding something else to focus on.

“So, you said you had some potions.…?” She let the sentence trail away and wandered over to my desk where a sketch of Pickett lay on top of my most recent notes.

“Oh!” I gave myself a mental shake, cursing my inability to function in the presence of beautiful women, before hurrying forward. “Yes, of course. Sit down, please.” I pulled out the desk chair, conjuring a cushion for the seat.

Tina gingerly lowered herself with a sigh. “Thanks. I’ve done a more walking today than I’m used to - since before, I mean.”

I went over to my medicines to scan the shelves of bottles and jars. “I can give you some basic care, but it would be better if you tell me exactly what’s hurting and why.”

“Oh, well….when I was demoted and suspended, they….deactivated some of my enhancements. The auror-specific ones. I shouldn’t really talk about them, but....” She reached into her shirt and pulled out a gold locket on a long chain, running it between her fingers in what was obviously a familiar and comforting gesture. It looked quite old. No wonder Oran had been such a pest all evening.

I winced, glad I had my back to her so she couldn’t see. If she’d had those enhancements since childhood, then losing them must have been a nasty shock. No wonder she seemed so affected.

“I think I can guess. Why don’t I ask you a few questions, and you tell me if I’m right? That way you don’t need to be specific. But first….” I chose a bottle of headache reliever and downed it in one quick gulp. It still tasted like rat’s piss, but it worked minor miracles if you could keep it down.

Tina frowned. “What was that for?”

“Oh, I thought you saw: Jacob and I got into a tussle with some gang or other. I cracked my head. It’s fine.”

The potion works quickly, thank Merlin. I make it double strong because headache is another side effect of enhancements for wizards. I guess our brains are just wired differently from Muggles. It would make sense; we’re compatible with them in every way but there _are_ minor physiological differences, the most obvious of which are our increased lifespans and ability to survive injuries that would kill one of them.

Well. That, and the fact that witches could have children well beyond typical muggle childbearing age, but that wasn’t a tangent I was comfortable pursuing right now. Not with Tina so close.

Come to think of it, Queenie didn’t appear to have any enhancements at all — at least nothing visible. Maybe it had to do with her legilimency?  I made a mental note to ask just out of curiosity. I didn’t think she would mind.

I took down a few more bottles: a basic analgesic and a muscle relaxer. “So, I noticed you’re limping. Are you having trouble walking?” I kept my eyes on my work, taking down a small cauldron and tipping the pain reliever into it before setting it over a low flame.

Tina sighed. She sounded frustrated when she spoke. “Yeah, I get really achy if I do it for too long at a stretch. And I can’t....move as fast as I used to.”

Made sense. Enhancements for speed, to overextend the muscles for short bursts. I added some blue lotus  and kava kava to the cauldron and left it to simmer before looking at my personal stores.

“What is it you’re already taking?” I had to be careful not to give her too much of one thing, or not enough of another.

I heard the chair legs scrape as she shifted. I caught a whiff of something, her perfume maybe, spicy and floral. It was surprisingly feminine for her and I bit my lip before taking a deep breath and forcing myself to focus on her words, not the atavistic part of me that was suddenly clamoring to sample that scent again — directly from her skin if at all possible.

“Something Queenie got from a healer,” Tina mumbled. “All it does it help me sleep, but I feel awful the next day until about lunchtime.”

“Hmmm….” I steeled myself and walked over to her, crouching so I was on her eye level. The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel threatened. I’d think of her like one of my creatures. Just a hurt animal in pain and in need of care. I could do that.

This close, I could see the lines of strain around her eyes. I held out a hand. “May I?”

She nodded, still a bit wary. I took her chin and gently tilted her head up, examining the ugly tattoo staining her forehead. Absently, I noted that her skin was papery and a bit warm, her cheeks slightly flushed, pupils dilated. Perhaps a bit of fever? I gestured at a nearby lamp and it flared to life, giving me more light to work by.

“Does it hurt?” I brushed the word very lightly, and she flinched.

“It’s supposed to. You can’t do anything.” I felt her jaw muscles clench and decided to drop it for now.

I turned her head so I could see the access plate. The skin around it was cleanly healed with no redness or swelling. “This looks fine, at least.” The bristles of her regrowing hair rasped at my fingers and I suppressed a smile at how appropriate it seemed that her hair was as prickly as her personality.

She gave a watery laugh that was closer to a sob. “Oh yes, they healed that immediately. Not that they gave me anything for the pain. It took two days for the headache to go away.”

Again, I wanted to ask why she had been treated this way but now wasn’t the time. I needed her to trust me first. “And do you still have headaches? Aside from this, I mean?”

“No.” She frowned, thinking. “And that’s weird because I’ve always had them. I’d gotten so used to them, I never noticed when they stopped.”

“It’s the enhancements. I suspect deactivating some of them helped with that.” I stood up again and checked the cauldron. Perfect. I poured a dose into a beaker and the rest into a vial before sealing it. “See if this reduces the overall pain,” I told her while passing it over. “You can save the rest for when you need it.”

She took it reluctantly. “It won’t make me sleepy? Or loopy?”

“It shouldn’t unless you have an allergy. It’s a variation I use myself from time to time. It won’t impair your thinking at all.”

She knocked it back like a shot of liquor, shuddering at the taste. I passed her a glass of water, using it as an excuse to get a closer look at her face. No immediate signs of an adverse reaction. Good.

She slumped a bit as the potion kicked in. I hated to think that she’d been hurting for — days? Weeks? — with no relief. “Thanks. So what do you need it for?”

I cleaned the cauldron and started the second potion for the muscle relaxant. “Oh, various things. My arm pains me, as I mentioned. Besides that, I have several enhancements left over from the war. I’ve kept most of them active since they help me in my work.” I added chamomile and rosemary to the cauldron before taking a lungful of the fragrant steam. “And my creatures have given me a few injuries over the years.”

“I guess I just don’t understand why you bother?” She looked at my piles of notes and sketches with a wrinkled nose. “No one else seems to care about animals, magical or not.”

I turned to her. “That’s why I do it: because no one else does. And someone needs to.”

She shook her head, still confused. “But why? Why do you care so much?”

I hesitated, genuinely thrown for a loop. No one had ever bothered to ask me why before. My parents had been too furious at my expulsion to think of it, and Theseus was too intent on smoothing things over. And to be honest, I hadn’t cared enough about what they thought to explain myself. But I wanted — needed — Tina to understand.

I crouched in front of her again. “Because everything deserves to be cared for, Tina. And everyone.”

Tina tipped her head to the side before leaning forward. “But why you?” She gestures vaguely to creatures and research. “It can’t be easy, building and maintaining all....this. Or cheap. And it has to be exhausting to live this way. So why do it?”

She was watching me with the same intensity I’d witnessed in front of the MACUSA building. I licked my lips to stall for time before giving her an honest answer, appalled at how badly my voice shook.

“I suppose I have a bit too much concern to keep it all to myself, Tina. No one else has bothered to show these creatures, _any_ of them, the faintest hint of love or appreciation. If I can share mine, then I guess I’ve done something right and good in this world.”

Tina made a thoughtful sound at that, and I looked away before I could embarrass myself further. My palms were suddenly sweaty so I stood up to scrub them over my shirt before using my time decanting the second potion and pouring off a serving to calm myself. She was watching me with keen eyes when I turned back, though thankfully she accepted my peace offering with a smile.

“So you do it for love,” Tina mused after she drained it off and wiped her lips. I hummed in agreement, only to take a quick step back when she stood. She set the beaker aside before smiling at me nervously, and I was in the process of opening my mouth to say — _something_ when she stood on tiptoes to brush her lips across mine.

Gobsmacked, I stood as stiff and unresponsive as a board when she moved to deepen the kiss, only to pull back and frown. “I’m sorry,” she said, beginning to turn away. “I just thought —”

Merlin’s beard. My shock caught up to me, forcing me into motion when I lunged forward. I caught Tina by the elbow, gently urging her to turn by running my fingers over her textured scalp. She shuddered, the movement translated into my fingertips and palms, and I dipped my head down to hers before meeting her eyes, silently asking permission.

She nodded, a subtle dip of her chin and closed her eyes.

Tina’s sudden trust in me went straight to my head and nearly unhinged my knees. I braced one hand against my workbench while cupping her jaw with the other and tenderly traced the outline of her mouth. She sighed and parted her lips to grant me entrance. Her flavor was almost as sweet and spicy as her scent, wholly exotic; I drank from her to memorize her taste until we were forced to come up for air.

“Wow,” Tina muttered, sounding dazed. “I never....no one’s ever.…” She took a deep breath before embracing me, tentatively sliding her arms around my waist. “Where the _hell_ did you learn how to do that, Mr. Scamander?”

I pressed my cheek to her scalp, rubbing against it like an overgrown cat. “Well.…” I hedged, unwilling to admit just how little experience I had in physical intimacy — well, the kissing part of it, anyway — before leaning my forehead against hers. “I guess it’s just you. Or us. And please, call me Newt.”

“Newt.” In Tina’s mouth, my name was something exotic and unheard of, something new. She shortened the consonances and elongated the vowels, and I was leaning in for another one of her intoxicating kisses when she started violently.

I recognized the inwardly focused gaze that meant one of her enhancements had activated and watched helplessly as my chance of a repeat performance dwindled and vanished.

_Bugger!_


	4. Conversations Spoken and Unspoken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains the reason this fic is M-rated. The beginning and end of the smutty scene are clearly marked, and you can avoid it without losing any of the overall story.

“I have to leave.” She moved out of the circle of my arms so quickly I had to take a few steps back. On the one hand, I was glad she was moving more freely, but on the other I couldn’t help feeling hurt. I hadn’t thought she would treat me the way Leta did, but maybe I was wrong. 

“I’m sorry if I —” I really didn’t know what to say to this sudden change in mood.

She stopped halfway up the ladder and came back. “No, it’s not you.” She put a hand to my cheek and her palm was cold. “It’s just that I promised to meet someone tonight, and if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late.” 

I accessed the local time. Nearly 8, and since it was winter, fully dark outside. “Now? By yourself?”

“Yes, of course!” She started back up the ladder. “Will you please tell Queenie that I’ve gone to meet Credence?” 

“No. I’m coming with you.” I grabbed my coat and followed her up, shutting and locking the case behind us. “It isn’t safe out there. I wouldn’t walk around this city alone at night.” I tapped the case with my wand, shrinking it down again, and put it in my rucksack.

Rather predictably, her temper flared. “For your information, I can look after myself, Mr. Scamander.” She stalked over the kitchen area and took a bag from under the sink. Ignoring me as decidedly as I was ignoring my hurt, she filled it with ration packs and a covered dish from the refrigerator.

I shrugged on my coat. “I’m sure you can, but the muscle relaxer may make you drowsy and impair your reflexes.” I didn’t point out what we both knew — that those reflexes were already dampened by the loss of her enhancements.

She muttered something under her breath that I didn’t quite catch. “Fine!” She scribbled a note on the message screen attached the fridge before stomping past me. “Let’s go. I’ll apparate us there.”

We reappeared in a familiar alley, and I looked around instinctively for the gang. But there was only a tall, thin young man hurrying toward us from the shadows. His threadbare black clothes were free of decoration, and his hair looked as if someone had put a bowl over his head before cutting it. Combined with his pale skin, the impression was that of a reanimated corpse, fresh from a funeral.

“Miss Tina, I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.” He returned her hug carefully, as though he might break her. 

“Of course I came, Credence. I’m sorry I was late. Queenie and I had company. Here, this is for you.” She passed him the bag. “A few ration packs and Queenie put up the leftovers. You be sure to share it with Modesty, alright?” 

He gave her a sweet smile. “I will.” He noticed me for the first time and his gaze sharpened. It was probably my imagination, but the shadows seemed to grow darker behind him. “Who’s this?” 

Tina beckoned me forward. “This is Mr. Scamander. He’s a friend of mine.” 

Her lack of fear reassured me, and I offered my hand despite my misgivings. “Call me Newt. It’s nice to meet you, Credence.” 

“Thank you, sir.” His grip was cold and limp. Something in his eyes was familiar, but even though I ran through my database, I couldn’t place it. Perhaps I had glimpsed him earlier that day? 

Tina took his other hand and chafed it between her own. “You’re freezing! You should get back inside — we won’t keep you. Is your ma treating you okay?” 

He shrugged. “About the same. Don’t worry about me, Miss Tina. I’m always fine.”

She gave him another hug. “Well, if you need help, you know where to find us. Any time: day or night. I mean it.”

“I know.” With that, he faded back into the shadows. Or rather, they consumed him.

Tina took my arm and guided us out of the alley. When I opened my mouth to speak, she shook her head. “Not here. Do you need to go back? I mean, are your creatures okay by themselves for a while?” 

Now I was definitely intrigued. “Yes, they should be fine until morning. Dougal will let me know if something’s wrong.” 

“Good. There’s a place I like to go sometimes. It’s safe and there’s a good view of the city.…” 

I smiled. “Lead the way.”

The place turned out to be on top of a building with a dodgy neon sign reading “Squires.” It was brutally cold on the exposed ledge, but Tina pulled me into a corner and the wind died instantly. Instead, we were cocooned in a bubble of warmth. 

“Wards? Very nice.” Spells of that type have to be renewed frequently. It’s more than half the work I do in my case: refreshing weather spells and shoring up wards. These were very powerful to stand the constant crosswind, and I was impressed.

Tina dragged over a couple of crates and transformed them into a basic sofa. “Thanks. I come here a lot. More now that I’ve lost my job.”

I was pleased when she sat close to me, one leg tucked beneath her. The view was spectacular — row upon row of glittering buildings and beyond them the glint of starlight on water. We spent a few minutes just soaking it in before I said, “I thought you’d only been demoted.” 

She gave a hiss of annoyance. “I still lost the job I had. Even when I come back from suspension, and I have three months left, I won’t be an auror anymore.”

“How did it happen?” I had a hunch the incident was connected to the odd young man we’d just met. His familiarity nagged at me, but I put it aside for the moment to give her my undivided attention.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on the Second Salemers for a long time now.” She glanced at me. “You remember that woman outside the rec center today?” 

“The preacher?” I envisioned the snapped wand and shivered, but not from the cold. 

Tina snorted. “Mary Lou’s no preacher — at least not for any god I’ve ever heard of.”

“What is she doing then? Does she have something against wizards?” It seemed an odd thing to get worked up over but then, who was I to judge?

“They want a second Salem Witch Trials. Yes, like the one centuries ago. They just can’t move on, I guess. Their dream, as far as we can figure, is to turn the techies against us.”

“Can they do that? Forgive me, but you do seem to have some biases against them.” I knew from my reading that the laws separating Muggles and wizards had been much stricter until the 20th century when America had repealed Rappaport’s Law.. Obviously, there’s some need for caution, but all this cloak-and-dagger nonsense is going overboard if you ask me.

“It's not biased. It just….they’re different, and there are so many more of them, you know? Individual people, like Jacob, are no problem. But if they ever did decide to turn on us as a group, it wouldn’t go well.” Tina snuggled a bit closer and I dared to put my arm around her shoulders. “We should’ve brought something hot to drink. Anyway, my detail was checking up on Mary Lou’s operation. You see all those kids? They’re techie orphans she’s taken in. She feeds them and uses that to force them to help spread her nasty rhetoric.”

Realization dawned but it only brought more questions. “And Credence is one of hers.”

“Yep. There’s an empty store building they’ve taken over. They live upstairs and have services once a week on the ground floor. We try to have someone at the services; it’s usually pretty boring and routine. But that day....” She drew a shaky breath. “She called Credence up front — I don’t remember what he was supposed to have done — had him take off his own belt and started hitting him with it. Really whaling on him. He just stood there and….took it. Didn’t even make a sound.”

I pulled her closer. I could see where this story was going, and Queenie’s words made more sense now. 

“I couldn’t just sit there! I jumped up and stunned Mary Lou. The rest of them screamed and ran out. I healed Credence as best I could before Mr. Graves got there and arrested me.” She squirmed in remembered anguish. “They all had to be tracked down and Obliviated. It was a huge scandal. I’m lucky they didn’t fire me outright or worse. But Mr. Graves spoke up for me, and I just got six months suspension and demoted to wand permits.”

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, her stubble making my nose itch. “I’m sorry. I know what that’s like. I was expelled from school when I took the blame for a friend’s prank.” The memory of Leta’s betrayal still stung even after so long, but if it would help Tina, I didn’t mind sharing.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Yeah. It’s been hard. I still get a stipend — they can’t take that from me — so Queenie and I are doing okay. After —” she raised a hand to her shorn hair. “I was sick. I guess it was just my body trying to compensate for everything, but I was in bed for weeks. And I don’t get hungry very often.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I guess that’s good, considering.”

I absorbed this in silence before casting my mind back to what I’d gleaned during our suitcase tour. “Queenie said you were five when you were selected for the auror program?” 

Tina nods. “Mmhmm. Our parents had just died — I only remember them a little and Queenie doesn't at all, but while we were still at the hospital the healers did a bunch of tests on both of us. I thought they were making sure we didn't have the pox too, but now I know they were....”   
  
“Testing to see if you were good enough?” I guessed, remembering what Theseus had said.   
  
She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. I was pleased to see she was still moving easily with no sign of pain. “Your magic has to be really strong because all the enhancements suck it away. But you know that. So they picked me.” She sighed.

“I don't remember the first procedures, just waking up in a dorm full of other kids and Queenie wasn't there. They'd shaved my head to put this in,” she touched the plate. As she spoke, her voice took on a childish singsong as though summoning the girl she had been. “I didn't like that. Momma loved my long hair, but they said it would grow back. And they said if I was good I could see Queenie sometimes. They told me I was going to learn how to protect people. I was already taking care of Queenie, so it made sense to me.” She shrugged. When she continued, I heard the grown-up Tina’s voice. “I wanted to help. I think that was part of me from the beginning. Maybe that's what they looked for in the first place.”   
  
My attraction to her made sense, then. I recognized a kindred spirit, but questions remained. “Why didn’t they choose Queenie too?” I could see how her talents might be an asset to policing, especially interrogating suspects. But the idea of sweet Queenie doing that turned my stomach.   
  
“She's a born legilimens. That means she can use the Net without enhancements — she's practically a techie so they can’t trust her. But me....I threw myself into it, did everything they said. As I got older they added enhancements to make me run faster, think quicker, and they activated the chips they'd put in. When I was 16, they activated the law one and I thought my brain would explode.” She grinned, and I saw a hint of what she’d been like before her radiance had been dimmed.   
  
“Oh, believe me: I know. Too much information all at once — like my database. It was originally military issue, but I wiped it and uploaded all my notes. I had a headache for three days until I got it all sorted.”    


“Yeah, it was great. I felt like I was doing what I had been born to do, you know? And now.…” She leaned her head on my shoulder, and said quietly, “I envy you.”

That shocked me. I’m just an odd wanderer with an obsession for magical creatures. No one in their right mind would envy me. “Why, in Merlin’s name?”

She sat up and scooted back so she could face me. I don’t like looking people in the face, but with Tina it was almost natural. “Because you’ve got something you care about. I don’t have anything.” It wasn’t self-pity talking this time; she truly believed it.   


I shook my head. "That's not true. You care about Queenie and Credence, and even Jacob." 

She still looked doubtful, so I continued. "You could've handed us over to Abernathy or the doorman and gone on your way. But instead, you took us home and fed us. And you helped with my creatures. That's no small thing, in my book." 

"I was just doing what's right," she shrugged. "Anyone would." 

I took both her hands in mine and forced myself to look her in the eye. I needed to make her see. "No, most people wouldn't. You have no idea how rare that way of thinking is." 

She blushed but didn't pull away. "Stupid me, then. "

"No. Wonderful you." I leaned forward and touched my lips to hers. After a second, she relaxed against me and deepened the kiss. Her sweet-spicy flavor filled my mouth, and I chased after it until she whimpered, her body goin g loose  against mine.

I drew away so I could see her face as much as possible in the dim light. The tattoo was clearly visible and she put a hand over it when she caught the direction of my gaze.

“Don’t look at it,” she said, sounding devastated. “It’s so ugly. I don’t know how you can want to kiss me.” 

That wouldn’t do at all. I wrapped a hand behind her neck and gently pulled her to me, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Better?”

She looked at me hard before giggling. “For the moment.” She pecked me on the lips and got to her feet. “Let’s go home before Queenie wonders where we are.” I took the hand she offered, grateful for the darkness that hid just how enthusiastically I had responded to our kiss.

We snuck back into the apartment like a pair of naughty teenagers afraid of being caught out after curfew. Tina’s note was gone from the fridge and one of the bedroom doors was shut, so we knew Queenie had returned. I cast a silencing spell so we could talk while shedding our outer layers.

I glanced at the clock before frowning. I hadn’t realized how late it was. “I really should get to my hotel.…” I hated to leave, but I didn’t want to impose on the sisters’ hospitality any more than I already had. 

Tina scowled. “Let me guess — it’s one of those awful pod places?”

I nodded. I don’t mind them, but Theseus said they remind him too much of coffins. I suppose he has a point. 

“You could stay here.” She nibbled on her lower lip before stretching her neck to kiss me sweetly. “There’s the couch or you could bunk with me. My bed’s big enough for two people and a lot more comfortable than some  _ pod _ .”

I considered refusing, but it had been a very long day. If Tina was willing to share her bed, she would find no threat from me. Celibacy and I are well acquainted. I do seek female companionship from time to time, I’m no saint, but it has  _ always  _ been by mutual consent. “Thank you, I would appreciate it. I’ll wash up in my workshop and rejoin you in a few minutes.”

“Good!” Without another word, she ducked into the bathroom and shut the door.

I did one last quick check on my creatures before I showered and dug out a pair of the pajama pants I hardly ever wear along with a shirt. I sleep nude in my case, but since I wasn’t expecting a romantic liaison — hopeful, yes, but not expecting — I decided to err on the side of caution. 

As I was heading towards the ladder, Pickett chirped at me from his nest on the desk. He’d insisted on coming back to the shed after my rounds with me which is no surprise. He and his branch just don’t get along.

I turned around to find him giving me that pleading look I just can’t resist. “Do you want to come upstairs, Pick?” 

He nodded and gestured with his tiny arms. “Alright, but you’ll have to sleep in my coat, okay? That way I’ll know you’re safe.” He nodded again so I set him on my shoulder and turned back to the ladder. A prick on the side of my neck made me jump. “What’s wrong?” He never does that unless I’m really depressed or there’s a problem.

More chittering and waving of arms. Bowtruckles are very expressive. “What’s wrong with Larry?” The swooping evil’s cocoon hung still and it didn’t look any different. 

A sad burr and a shiver from Pickett. “He’s cold? Hmm….” I took the cocoon down and cupped it in my palm. “He does feel a bit cool. Might be a bit of a sniffle. Right. I’ll take him up with us and he can share the coat with you.” 

Pickett chirped in alarm. Larry frightens most of the smaller creatures and half of the larger ones. “Don’t worry. I’ll put him in a different pocket and you won’t have to see him.” 

A leafy head rubbed against my neck in thanks, and with that sorted, I returned to the apartment. I tucked both creatures into my coat where they would be warm, then took a deep breath. I wasn’t nervous exactly — alright, I was. This wasn’t like picking up someone for the night. Even though I’d known Tina less than a day, I felt a connection with her that I couldn’t explain. Love at first sight? I grinned. Considering how we’d met, at least I knew it wouldn’t be boring. 

Tina’s bedroom door was invitingly cracked and I slipped inside, shutting it behind me.

******* M-rated scene starts here *******

She was already in bed by the time I found my way to the mattress, a warm lump beneath the heavy duvet.

I peeled it back with reverence to slip beneath, sticking to the edge with my arms straight out beside me. My companion chuckled before moving closer. She tucked herself beneath my arm and —

Oh. Skin,  _ bare _ skin, and an awful lot of it pressed against me. I spread my hand over her smooth back and she hummed before rolling into my chest. “Can I kiss you?”

I barely mumbled assent before she was on me, twining her fingers in my hair. The prick of her tugging on my scalp was pleasant but not as much as the way we came together. Our previous kisses were tentative and exploratory, but this was bold and all-consuming. She sucked on my tongue as her hands slipped beneath my shirt, and I felt the first stirrings of true arousal.

I could hear my heart throbbing in my ears when Tina broke off our kiss to mouth at my throat. She was panting, her lean ribs flexing beneath my hands. I questioned the impulse when she tugged my shirt up, a niggling of doubt giving me pause.

“Tina,  _ Tina _ .” I pushed upright and she moved with me, settling in my lap. Her weight bore down on my crotch and I ignored the spark of pleasure to cup her face between my hands. “Calm down. There’s no need to rush, I’m not going anywhere.”

Tina looked at me searchingly before dropping her chin. She guided my index finger into her mouth with a bit of maneuvering and thinking became that much harder when her clever, wet tongue slicked over my skin. The sensation seemed to be fed directly to my cock, which twitched approvingly before filling out. Smirking, she released me to press down again, a bit more gently.

“Tell me to stop,” she said lowly, “and I will.”

I slid my arms around her shoulders to pull her in for a kiss. “Who says I want to stop?” I murmured against her lips. She smiled, and I kissed her lovely jaw before transferring my hand to the small of her back. “May I.…?”

She bit her lip before nodding, allowing us to roll and tuck her beneath me. Her legs went automatically around my waist, cradling me between her thighs. I allowed her to tug off my shirt between teasing kisses, tossing it aside before sliding my fingertips over her scalp. The prickle of her stubbly hair gave me a pleasant shiver and she turned her head to bite the lobe of my ear.

I kissed the length of her neck. Her scent was concentrated in the hollow of her throat and I lingered there to enjoy it before moving lower to find her tattoo — a Thunderbird? — fluttering in time to her pulse. I kissed a feathered wing before lifting my head to catch her eye, silently asking permission. 

Tina nodded, and I hummed before taking her breasts in my hands. They were small and soft and perfect, tipped with gumdrop nipples. I reminded myself to be gentle when I took one between my teeth, suckling and flicking it with my tongue before moving to the other side. Beneath me, Tina’s entire body tightened in approval, a slow moan working out of her throat. She made the sound again when I nuzzled her cleavage before moving lower, lingering to admire the softness of her pale belly and her hollow navel.

She lifted her head when I hesitated to sink lower. “Newt. What’s wrong?”

My hands went to her knees before sliding inward to brush her straining tendons. “Nothing is wrong. I just wasn’t sure if I.…”

“Whatever you want to do, do it.” Her voice was strained but she seemed to have lost that frantic edge, waiting in anticipation for me. “I will let you know if I don’t like it.”

Well. I wasn’t going to get a more ringing declaration of approval than that, was I? 

I pushed my hands forward until they met at the juncture of her thighs, cupping her heat as I skimmed my teeth along her skin. She signaled her approval by tugging on my hair. I kissed along her inner leg in pleasant retaliation until I could replace one of my hands with my lips. Tina gasped, and I flicked my eyes up to her face to find her staring at the ceiling with a thunderstruck expression. Had no one ever pleasured her this way before?

Well! I couldn’t allow that to stand.

A bit of maneuvering allowed me to settle more firmly between her legs, mindful of her infirmity when I guided them over my shoulders. Tina whimpered when I used my thumbs to spread her open, and I shushed her absently as I inspect the most feminine part of her — small and pink and glistening even in the low light of the bedroom. My mouth watered as I inhaled her unique scent before slanting my lips over her, eager to please.

Flavor exploded on my tongue. Tina tasted much like she smelled, spicy-sweet and pungent. Her flavor reminded me of the ocean, of the tang of ozone before a thunderstorm: iron and musk and orchid, salt and sea and sweat. I drank her in, using her sighs and stifled moans as my guide until her sharp little heels were digging into my back and her hips rolled against my mouth.

“Newt!”

I shivered when she cried out my name but did not stop. I waited until her heat and flavor were concentrated before slipping two fingers inside, crooking them toward me. The results were gratifyingly fast, and I leaned my elbows against her hips to gently restrain them when she broke beneath me, her body rocked with orgasm.

Sitting up to wipe my mouth and shed my pajamas afforded me a rare opportunity. Tina’s face was beautiful and blissed-out as she panted and slowly came back to herself. She blinked toward the ceiling a few times before finding my eyes, and,  _ oh — _

I got tangled in the duvet in my haste but she kindly pretended not to notice. Her arms went around my body as if they were made to embrace me, our legs tangled together. Her hands were shaking, though not as badly as mine, when she reached between us, and I held my breath when she took me in hand and stroked before guiding me to where I ached to be.

The first brush of wet heat made me tremble, but it was enough to temporarily snap me back to reality. “Wait!”

Tina froze before looking at me with wide eyes. “What?”

I felt like a fool for ruining the moment but persistent need is not an excuse for carelessness, or so I told myself. I cast about for the right way to ask before settling on the simplest, which also happened to be the bluntest. “Are you chipped, by any chance? Do we have to worry about, well.…?”

She looked at me uncomprehendingly for a breathless moment before slapping a hand over her forehead. “Morgana’s tits,” she groaned and shook her head before giving me a heartfelt smile. “You really are a caretaker, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m chipped, and I’ve only ever been with other aurors. They’d never allow us to catch anything.  Is that what you needed to hear?”

I nodded, infinitely relieved. “Yes. I — it’s been nearly a year since my last checkup but I can assure you I’ve never done this without, uh, the appropriate preventative measures in place.”

“That’s good to know,” she murmured before reaching for me. I went willingly back into her arms, kissing her as we rekindled the intensity between us. When she used her hand to guide me home, I allowed it without hesitation, breaking our kiss to moan without shame.

Slipping into her was like sinking into some fine, exotic oil. Her body moved in perfect counterpoint to mine, and I took a moment to watch her face, to memorize the way her eyes looked against the pillow (watching me with such unfathomable adoration) before giving in to my baser urges.

Everything turned hazy after that — well, except for the feel of her fingernails digging into my back. The taste of her mouth against mine, devouring me. The scent of her skin, the feel of her body, firm and slick and taut and thrumming with pleasure. The sounds she made when I canted her hips to find the perfect angle before urging her over the edge, only to helplessly follow.

Afterward, I hid from the distractions of the world by pressing my face into Tina’s neck until we calmed, the sweat drying on our skin.

We fell asleep tangled together beneath the blankets, touching in wonder and sharing quiet but meaningful praise.

******* M-rated scene ends here *******

I jolted awake, confused and thinking I was back in the War with explosions, lights and shouting all around. I scrabbled for my wand, but my searching hand encountered only Tina’s sleep-warmed skin. Before I could do more than shake my head to try to clear it, immobility gripped me. 

“Oh, looks like we interrupted somethin’.” The room was crowded with dark jacketed forms. Aurors. Through the doorway, I saw Queenie and Jacob being held at wand point.

Beside me, Tina was frozen with her hand stretched out to the wand on her bedside table. 

The auror who had spoken ambled over and pocketed it. “You’re getting slow since you’ve been off work Goldstein.” He turned to an underling with a sneer. “Get his, too.”

The woman strode around the bed and took my wand from where I had left it in the pile of my clothes. “Who’s this?” 

“Newton Artemis Fido Scamander,” the leader drawled. “The director wants to talk to ‘em both.” He grinned nastily. “Think we should let them get dressed or parade them through MACUSA like this? They’d be quite the picture.”

Several people laughed, but a male voice spoke up at the back. “I dunno. It’s pretty cold out there. Bits might….drop off. I’ve seen it happen.” 

“Not feeling sorry for a traitor, are you, Judah?” someone asked.

“Of course not. I’m just sayin’, the director might be pissed if we don’t bring ‘em in one piece.” 

The leader snorted. “Since the British Ministry of Magic wouldn’t like us mistreating one of their employees, I suppose we have to let him put some clothes on.”

He stepped forward until he stood in front of Tina. “And you....” He looked her over, a sneer twisting his face. “I’m very tempted to leave you like this. But maybe you wouldn’t care.” The unexpected crack of skin on skin was very loud and I heard Queenie’s startled exclamation from the kitchen. I fought the spell even though I knew it was useless. “That’s for betraying us all.” He shook the sting out of his hand. “One wrong move and we won’t be so nice.”

I struggled to think clearly past the fog of interrupted sleep and the shock of being arrested. My first priority was my case. I know that makes me sound cold or even cruel, but my creatures were innocents in the middle of this whole drama. My rucksack was on the floor between the bed and the wall. I decided I’d push it under the bed when they let us get up. There was a slim chance they’d just take us and go. A very slim chance, but I had to grab it.

The spell released us and Tina pushed herself upright, gathering the sheet around her. “Why are you doing this, Minus?” It sounded like she was fighting back tears. Of shame? Rage? Maybe both. 

“I’m just doing my job, sweetheart. Unlike you.” His voice turned cold. “You’ve got five minutes to get dressed. Move! Oh, and don’t try any wandless magic unless you want to end up in a whole heap of pain.” 

Tina stood up and let the sheet drop as she stalked across the room to the closet, her nakedness on full, lovely display. The base part of me wished I had time to enjoy the sight, but the more pragmatic part of me being recognized an opportunity when it saw one. I stood up while the aurors were distracted and shoved my bag under the bed on the pretense of picking my pajamas off the floor and pulling them on. 

“Here, you need shoes.” Tina yanked a shirt over her head and shoved a pair of worn boots at me. “They’ll resize to fit.” 

“Thanks.” I pulled them on while trying to block out the fear — both for her and my creatures, and Queenie and Jacob too. I could hear the aurors questioning them, but they weren’t being asked to dress, so perhaps they weren’t being detained as we were.

I spared a thought about  _ why  _ the director of magical security wanted to see us now, when Tina had tried so persistently to meet him earlier that day, well, the day before, now. I tried to think of anything we had said or done together that would’ve raised an alarm. I doubted Tina’s upbringing was a secret, and I knew they hadn’t caught wind of my case, so that left our meeting with Credence.

“Time’s up — let’s go!” The aurors closed in around us, taking our arms and half dragging us into the living room.

Queenie and Jacob were sitting at the kitchen table holding hands and looking terrified. Tina’s gaze sought that of her sister, and Queenie gave a watery nod and a slight smile. I thought of Theseus and wondered if I would be allowed to get a message to him. Surely the Ministry would be alerted to my arrest — had we been arrested? — at once. We’ve had our differences over the years, but I knew he would move heaven and earth to help me. I looked at Queenie too, thinking hard about my case under the bed. She managed the tiniest of winks.

“Wait! We need our coats.” Tina glared at Minus. “If you don’t want us to freeze.” 

He smirked. “We’re apparating dear girl.” He patted the cheek he’d slapped and Tina looked like she wanted to bite him. I wished she would.

“The cells are damned cold,” she pointed out. “I assume we’re going to end up in one?” 

“Don’t take that tone with me.” He considered it and nodded. “Alright. Go on then.” 

Tina pulled both of them from their pegs and passed me mine. Under the cover of cloth, our hands touched and I took the opportunity to squeeze her chilly fingers with my own. I hope it gave her some reassurance. 

As the familiar weight of the blue wool settled onto my shoulders, I felt my hopes rise. They’d hadn’t searched it which was very foolish of them. The inner pockets are all hidden by spells and that demiguise hair I mentioned earlier. You can feel them if you know where they are, but they don’t show from either side. The best part? I keep them stocked with useful things — Muggle and magical alike. 

Pickett gave a tiny, sleepy chirp from the breast pocket but I was able to shush him without anyone noticing. I was sick with worry about my case. I’m not a praying sort, but I said a string of them as our arms were bound and we were herded out onto the street.


	5. MACUSA

The clear sky was liberally speckled with stars, and the air bitterly cold. Luckily, we only felt it for a minute before we disapparated, reappearing outside the doors to MACUSA. For a second I considered trying to apparate myself back to Tina’s rooftop sanctuary. But it’s hellish tricky without a wand, and I couldn’t leave her. Besides, I’d have ended up taking the aurors who held my arms along for the ride. Not a good idea.

I admit I gaped as we stepped into the vast, gleaming lobby of Woolworth Building. At last I’d found something in this dismal city worth admiring. Despite the early hour, a surprising number of people were hurrying in and out of the bank of elevators and talking in urgent voices. Our escort halted and turned their faces as one up to the huge clock overhead. The longer hand rested in the red zone on “Unexplained Magical Activity”. 

“Lucien, take them down to holding,” Minus ordered. “The rest of you come with me.” 

A contingent of aurors peeled off from the main group while our guards hustled us to an elevator that had to be unlocked with a series of spells. We bundled in — it was a close fit for six people — and descended. The deeper we went, the colder the air became until our breath hung around our heads like a fog.

The auror holding my right arm shivered. “Sure glad it ain’t me spending the night down here.” I recognized him as the one who had spoken in favor of our getting dressed, Judah. 

“Don’t let Graves hear you say that,” Tina muttered, keeping her head bowed. “He’ll have you doing quarter-hour cell checks.” 

“That’s true.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Sorry about all this, Teen. You know it’s not anything personal.” 

She shrugged. “Thanks.” 

“Shut up or you’ll get us all in trouble!” the man holding her left arm hissed before yanking her out of the elevator. The gate slid open upon a brightly lit, whitewashed corridor. I squinted, trying to ignore the headache starting up again, this time behind my enhanced eye. 

Judah unlocked the first cell we came to. “Get in.” I stepped inside. It was larger than some I’ve had the dubious pleasure of inhabiting, cleaner too, but that wasn’t saying much.

“Wait!” Tina twisted around to look at me, a trace of panic in her eyes. 

“You know the regs Goldstein — men an’ women in separate cells.” The one they had called Lucien unlocked the one across from mine and shoved her in. “See? You can still talk to loverboy and everything. Just no hanky panky.” 

“Maybe I can change your mind?” 

Her tone wasn’t seductive, but he must have recognized it because he grinned nastily. “I’m sure you can.” 

“Lucien, let’s just get back upstairs.” Judah closed my cell door and waved his wand so that the conjured manacles disappeared from my arms. It was a damned relief to get them off. “The boss’ll be needin’ us.” 

“You just keep an eye on the elevator and shut your trap.” He stepped close to Tina and his whisper was loud in the enclosed space, “No teeth or I’ll break your neck, no matter what Graves wants.” 

That made me smile just a smidge. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who thought she might bite when provoked. 

I looked away to give them some privacy, too distracted for jealousy, choosing instead to focus on what might be happening at the apartment. I had to trust that Queenie and Jacob would look after my creatures until I could get back to them. I accessed my database and went down the list one by one starting with the two billywigs. It’s like meditation, you know? When I mentioned it to Theseus, he said it reminded him of a dragon obsessing over its horde of gold. Dragons  _ don’t  _ hoard things, that’s just a fairy tale. 

I was up to Anges, my diricawl — I really must find her a mate sometime soon — when the cell door banged and Lucien pushed Tina through before locking it behind her. “You two have fun.” I caught her arm before she could fall, helping her sit on the cot beside me.

“Asshole,” she muttered at Lucien’s retreating back as she wiped her mouth. 

I fished in my pocket and handed her a mint. I have a fondness for spicy food, so I always keep a few in easy reach.

“Thanks.” She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. “That’s better. Lucian’s a bully....has been since we were kids. But he’s pretty easy to deal with once you learn how.” She shivered and leaned against me. “I forgot how fucking cold it is down here. I never did find out if it’s a spell or just that we’re underground.” 

I wrapped an arm around her, feeling the chill creep through my thin pants and shirt. “Maybe both. Let’s lie down. If we share body heat, we’ll be warmer.” 

“Good idea.” 

It took some arranging to get us both and all our limbs on the narrow cot, but we managed, ending up spooned tightly together. 

Tina gave a wry laugh as she twined her fingers with mine. “Good thing we already did this or it might be very tempting.” She wriggled her bottom against my crotch in illustration.

I spotted a heart-shaped mole on the back of her neck and kissed it. “It still is, but I’d rather not expose any body parts to the cold just now, even briefly.” 

“Me either!” She sighed. “I just hope Queenie and Jacob are okay.” 

“How long do you think they’ll leave us down here?” 

I felt her shrug. “It depends on what the emergency is and how long it takes them to resolve it, but at least a few hours. Are you worried about your creatures?” 

No sense in lying. It didn’t occur to me until later that there may have been surveillance in the cells. “Yes. I pushed my rucksack under the bed before we left. Maybe they won’t find it?” 

She raised my hand to her lips and brushed a kiss across my knuckles. “I’m sorry, but they will. They’ll go through the whole place and take anything they want. Queenie won’t be able to stop them.”

“Will she come to work today, do you think?” I tried to remember that worrying means you suffer twice, but I was finding it harder to do than usual. Maybe it was having Tina with me. I found myself feeling quite protective of her. Not that she needed it. But in any case, I’m not used to feeling such things for humans. 

Tina nodded. “Yeah, she’ll want to be close by to see what she can pick up. I don’t think she’ll be able to help us, but she’s smart. If she can, she’ll find a way.” 

“Jacob too.” Pickett crawled out of my breast pocket and snuggled against my neck under the coat to get warm. I was glad he was with me at least. If only I had Dougal. Perhaps he could have slipped out to alert Queenie.

“I like Jacob. I haven’t really talked to a lot of techies but he seems like a nice guy.” Tina tucked her chin further into her coat. “Brr….I can’t get warm.” 

I pulled her closer against me. “Try not to think about it.” 

She laughed. “It’s hard not to! Huh….why don’t you tell me about your creatures then? How did you find Betty?” 

“Ah, well I had a tip from one of my usual informants….” I told her all about Betty’s rescue and rehabilitation. By the time I was halfway done, she was asleep, cheek pillowed on my arm.

I was too keyed up to join her, instead, I continued through my database, making mental notes of things to add or change. At last, I slipped into a very light doze.

The clanking of the elevator woke me, and I gave Tina a squeeze when she started awake too. “So, do you think they come bearing breakfast?” I whispered in her ear.

She snorted and let me help up her sit up. “I doubt it.” She blushed slightly before meeting my eyes. “I….I wanted to tell you....What we did last night — it wasn’t just physical for me.” 

I touched her cheek. “It wasn’t for me either.”

She smiled. “I think I’m starting to care about you, Mr. Scamander. I just….wanted you to know, in case — “ 

The sound of many feet came down the hall, and she paled. “In case, things don’t go well,” she finished in a rush.

“What do you —?” 

But she stood up and moved away from me before I could ask what she meant.

“Rise and shine!” Lucien unlocked the cell door and swung it wide. “The Director would like a word.” 

The conjured shackles reappeared and again we crowded into the elevator. Aside from Lucien, the other aurors were ones I’d never seen. 

“You looked tired,” Tina said sarcastically. “Long night, Luce?” 

He grunted. “Soon as I turn you over to the boss’ loving care, I’m out of here.” 

“What’s been —?” 

One of the aurors smacked her in the back of the head. “Prisoners aren’t supposed to talk, Goldstein!” 

She gave him a venomous glare but stayed quiet. I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress an inappropriate snarl.

We were ushered into a bare room with nothing more than a desk and two chairs facing it. Behind the desk sat a man whom I presumed to be Percival Graves. He was immaculately dressed in an elegant, dark suit with glittering scorpion stick pins, his black hair slicked back with some pungent oil. 

“Please sit down, Mr. Scamander.” His dark eyes glanced at Tina and away again dismissively. “Lucien, you’re free to go.” 

“Thank you, sir.” He smirked at Tina as he swept out. 

My attending aurors dumped me in one of the chairs and stepped back. Graves consulted the pad on his desk, tapping it with his stylus to bring up a particular section. “You’re an interesting man, Mr. Scamander. You show up in my city and immediately start causing trouble.”

Tina took a step forward, and I turned to see her. “Mr. Graves —” 

Graves put a finger to his lips the way you would shush a child. Tina shrank back and bowed her head. Such docility didn’t suit her at all and made me uneasy. It had the look of long practice, and I wondered if it was a programmed response from a chip or simple childhood conditioning. 

“Tina….” His voice was gentle. “You were told to keep away from the Second Salemers, weren’t you?” 

“Y- Yes, sir.” 

He tapped the stylus on the edge of the desk in an irritating rhythm that set my teeth on edge. “Ah, so you do remember. Then tell me why you were seen last night speaking to one Credence Barebone in the company of Mr. Scamander here?” 

"I wasn’t. I was home all night."   
  
I had to hand it to her. If I hadn't known differently, I would've believed her. Her face, slightly bruised from Lucien's slap I was furious to see, showed no hint of falsehood.   
  
Graves smirked. "Don't lie to me, girl. I saw you with my own eyes. You hugged him, and gave him a bag of food."   
  
She shrugged. "So? There's no law against giving a techie kid food, is there?"   
  
I held my breath as Graves right hand slowly clenched into a fist. There was a glint of recklessness in Tina's dark eyes that made my breath catch. Didn’t she know you don't antagonize a creature bigger and stronger than yourself?  
  
I spoke up then, hoping to draw his attention away from her. "Mr. Graves, I agree with Miss Goldstein: Helping someone is not a crime in any country I've ever visited."   
  
It worked and the man turned back to me. "It is if it threatens the peacefulness of this city." He waved a dismissive hand. "But Tina's soft-heartedness aside, it's you I'd like to speak with.” He glanced at his tablet with a smirk. “Let’s see….You were thrown out of Hogwarts for endangering human life —”

“That was an accident!” I had intended to be very calm and rational, but if there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to upset me, it’s the jarvey incident. The unfairness still rankles even after so many years. 

“— With a beast. Yet one of your teachers argued strongly against your expulsion. Now,” Graves looked up from the pad and scrutinized me. “What makes Albus Dumbledore so fond of you?”

My stomach lurched as I scrambled for a reply. “I really couldn’t say.” My instincts screamed that something was very wrong with this man, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “He cares about all his students.”

Graves smirked before leaning back in the chair. “So setting a pack of dangerous creatures loose here was just another accident, is that right?” 

I stared at him, completely baffled. “I didn’t. Only my niffler escaped and I caught him very quickly. Besides, why would I do such a thing deliberately?”

Graves turned both hands palms up in a gesture that might have meant anything. “To expose wizardkind. To provoke a war between the magical and non-magical worlds.”

I sneered at the familiar words. “Mass slaughter for the greater good, you mean?”

The smirk slipped off his face, replaced with a look of glaring intensity. “Yes. Precisely.” 

I forced myself to make eye contact and enunciate clearly, the better to be convincing. “I’m  _ not  _ one of Grindelwald’s fanatics, Mr. Graves.” Grindelwald is a fanatic. He’d like nothing better than to see techies beneath the heel of wizardkind. 

An expression flickered across his face too quickly for me to identify before smoothing into official blandness once more. My comment had scored a hit, but whether for or against me, I couldn’t say. 

He opened a drawer and set my case on the desktop. Behind me, Tina voiced a dismayed moan. “I wonder what you can tell me about this Mr. Scamander?” 

He gestured and the pulsing, hissing, swirling ball that was the Sudanese girl’s Obscurus rose out of the case to hover in mid-air. Thank Merlin it was still enclosed within its protective field. When I didn’t speak, he said, “Tina, why don’t you enlighten us? I believe your database contains the relevant information.”

This time, I only turned my head slightly. I knew now that Graves was a dangerous creature, and you don’t put your back to those if you want to live. 

Tina stiffened to attention between her guards and recited in a monotone, “Before wizards went underground when we were still being hunted by non-magical people, young wizards and witches sometimes tried to suppress their magic to avoid persecution. So instead of learning to harness or to control their powers, they developed what was called an obscurus.”

“That is correct. And what is an obscurus?” 

“It’s an unstable, uncontrollable Dark force that bursts out and attacks when its host feels threatened.” 

“Thank you, my dear.” Graves raised an eyebrow. “So, how did you come to have this, Mr. Scamander?”

Tina was gazing at the dark mass, transfixed with horror. I didn’t care what Graves thought — I knew she was the one I needed to convince. 

“It _ is  _ an obscurus,” I began slowly, forcing myself to meet her eyes, “but it’s not what you think! I separated it from an eight-year-old girl in Africa three months ago as I tried to save her. I wanted to take it home; to study it. But it cannot survive outside that shield, Tina. It can’t  _ hurt _ anyone.”

Graves shot the obscurus a disappointed look. “So, it’s useless without the host?”

My anger boiled over before I could stop it. What kind of sick joke was he playing? “Useless?  _ Useless? _ That is a parasitic, magical force that killed a child! What on earth would you use it for?” 

Graves seemed to realize he’d made a mistake. He stood so that he towered over me in a cheap display of dominance. “You fool nobody, Mr. Scamander. You brought this obscurus into the city of New York in the hope of causing mass disruption — and revealing the magical world.”    
  
“You know that can't hurt anyone, you know that!” The pieces fell into place. Graves had to be one of Grindelwald’s followers — no one else would be this insane.   
  
“You are therefore guilty of a treasonous betrayal of your fellow wizards and are sentenced to death.”

“No!” Tina’s anguished cry seemed to recall Graves to her presence.

He walked slowly over to her while my own guards hauled me to my feet. I craned my neck to watch despite my trembling, unwilling to let them out of my sight. 

“Miss Goldstein, who has aided and abetted you.…” He shook his head and for the first time, he appeared genuinely saddened. “You had so much promise, Tina. I had hoped you would stay by my side.” 

“Mr. Graves, I.…” She choked and couldn’t go on. 

Graves touched her cheek with the back of his knuckles in a parody of an intimate caress. A territorial flash ignited in my chest and I heard my guards grunt and curse in surprise when I lunged toward him. One of them whistled but I was too busy sizing up the threat Graves presented to Tina to pay them any mind.

"Tell me,” he murmured, pressing his mouth to her ear, “how are aurors created?" His voice was low and pleasant, like that of a teacher to a student who needed a review of the basics.   
  
"We — they're chosen as children," Tina stammered, confused by the change of subject and his overpowering nearness.    
  
Graves nodded and patted her head. "Correct. And who gets picked?"    


Tina gasped when he pinned her with his gaze. "T-the strongest...."    
  
Graves held a finger to his lips again, halting her in mid-sentence. "No. Shall I tell you who we really choose?"   
  
She was deathly pale and my heart ached for her. Even the aurors beside me had fallen quiet, enraptured by the drama unspooling before us.   
  
"We choose the weak. Oh, not magically; that needs to be strong — but in body and mind. It's so difficult to find the right combination.” His voice was soft and crooning, like a father speaking of a favorite child, and I couldn’t suppress a shiver. “We take the trash that most people would throw away, and we rebuild it into something that has value."    
  
_ It _ . My stomach turned over at such callous disregard. I had read about movements in the late 20th and early 21st centuries that had similarly devalued their children and felt my upper lift lip in a snarl.   
  
Tina watched him with wide eyes, like a mongoose caught in the hypnotizing stare of a cobra. "Do you know how your parents died, Tina?"   
  
"Dragon pox," she whispered. "They caught dragon pox and died."    
  
Graves shook his head sadly. “No. You killed them. I don’t know what triggered it: maybe they wanted you to eat your vegetables or something equally mundane, but your magic lashed out and threw them both across the room. Broke their necks.” He gave her a poisonous smile. “You weren’t able to talk and could barely walk, but you were very nearly executed for the unauthorized use of Dark magic. I saved your life when I recognized your....potential.”   
  
"No!" She was sobbing now. "That's not true!"   


Graves turned to me, a small, malevolent smile on his lips. “Miss Goldstein, who has aided and abetted you, receives the same sentence.”

I sagged against my restraints, strength leaving me all at once. I struggled to lift my head to meet Tina’s eyes but she looked away chest heaving. “Tina….”

“Shhh….” Graves waved the guards forward, raising his voice to be heard over her sobs. “The usual execution procedures for him, and a full deactivation for her. Just do it immediately. I will inform President Picquery myself.”


	6. Escape and Evasion

Graves strode out of the room, and our guards ushered us along behind. He turned right down the brightly lit corridor, head already bent over his pad, while we went left, to a metallic black door. We waited while one of the guards unlocked it. Ahead of me, Tina’s hands, bracketed by their cuffs, were shaking. I wanted to reach out to her, but I was similarly restrained. Though maybe not for long.

I felt Pickett crawl slowly back inside the collar of my coat. He made his way down my right arm while I tried to ignore the tickling. He’s always been very intuitive which is a bonus when I’m unable to speak. This wasn’t the first time I’d been incarcerated, you see. There was that time in Indonesia….well, you don’t want to hear about that right now. It’s not interesting at all.

The metallic black door led to an icy cold, metallic black hallway illuminated only by a rectangle of white light an indeterminable distance away. We walked for a good ten minutes, which gave me plenty of time to admire MACUSA’s use of an undetectable extension charm as a means of psychological torture.

Pickett reached my wrist just as we approached the doorway, and I flexed my hand to tell him to stay hidden. The cell’s floor, ceiling, and walls shone a dazzling, antiseptic white. My mind unhelpfully wondered how blood would look splattered across the smooth tiles. In the center of the room was gurney surrounded by machines and instruments I definitely did _not_ want to know the use of.

Our guards shoved us inside where two executioners were waiting. I’m sure they’re perfectly nice people in their off time, but executioners is what they were.

“Bernadette — don’t do this, please.”

Tina’s voice was choked with tears, and I wished I could let her know that I hadn’t given up yet. I did have one more trick up my sleeve — literally. Pickett shifted against my wrist, anxious to get to work, but I forced myself to stand quietly and wait for the right time.

Bernadette patted Tina on the shoulder in a grandmotherly way, and I gritted my teeth. “It won’t hurt. You’ll just go to sleep and have nice dreams.” Tina’s breathing was loud and ragged as Bernadette helped her to lie down on the gurney.

“Newt!” She reached toward me, her eyes panicked, but a spell from the other attendant rendered her unconscious before I could reply.

“I hate it when they struggle,” he muttered. “Haven’t done a complete shutdown before. Have you?”

Bernadette nodded. “It’s not talked about but it happens. First, we need to deactivate all her chips, and then we’ll go in and remove them so they can be reused.”

The man shuddered. “Physically? Can we just summon them?”

“Maybe. I guess we could try. Might be messy though….”

I tuned out their talk, wiggling my fingers to tell Pickett to get on with it. I hoped he would be quick. My guards had stepped forward a pace, fascinated in spite of themselves, and no one was looking at me. The manacles shifted around my wrists as Pickett inspected them.

Bernadette attached a device to the access plate on the side of Tina’s head and activated it on her console. “She’s all the way out.”

“So she’s dreaming?” her companion asked. He still looked a little queasy.

“Yep. See for yourself.”

A wave of Bernadette’s wand and a screen beside the gurney showed a hazy picture of a very young Tina who was joined by a woman I took to be her mother and an even younger Queenie. I wondered if it was a true memory or a conjured vision intended to keep her docile. Again, I fought down my impatience. Bowtruckles are naturally skilled a picking locks, but it does take time. My guards shuffled forward so they could see better. One glanced back at me, but I kept my head down.

“Aww….that’s sweet….” The second executioner consulted his own console. “Okay, looks like we can get started.”

The manacle on my right wrist popped free and I grabbed it with my left hand before it could make any noise.

“We’ll start with the right temporal lobe and go from there,” Bernadette said.

My jaw ached as I waited. Like I said before, four against one isn’t great odds, but I did have one other thing to tip the scales in my favor — Larry. You didn’t forget about him did you? His talents are just as useful as Pickett’s, but first I needed both my hands free.

“Moving on to area two….”

My guards whispered to themselves as Tina’s body convulsed on the gurney. We were out of time. The second manacle slid off and I acted. I clouted the guard to my right with the manacle and punched the other. Before Bernadette and her companion could raise their wands, I released Larry and he took them out easily. I left him to stretch his wings while I hurried to help Tina.

I had no idea what chips they had deactivated, but we could deal with that once we were safely away from here. I scanned Bernadette’s console and canceled the procedure before it could go any further.

Klaxons blared and, most alarming of all, the floor around the gurney liquefied. I swear to Merlin. It looked like some kind of black, metallic sludge. Tina stirred on the gurney and lifted a hand to the side of her head. She pulled off the device there and let it fall. It hit the sludge and dissolved instantly. Not good, but at least I knew what it did.

“Newt!” She sat up, her feet dangling over the noxious slime as it began to spread out.

“Don’t panic!” I needed her to stay calm.

She noticed the slime then, which was beginning to form waves, and put her feet up on the gurney again. “What do you suggest I do instead?”

She sounded pissed with me, which rather hurt my feelings. I tutted to Larry and he came closer, circling the gurney but keeping well away from the slime. “Can you stand up?”

“I’ll try.” She bit her lip and got clumsily to her knees and then to her feet, holding her arms out to keep her very unsteady balance. Her legs shook like a newborn mooncalf’s.

I took a deep breath to calm my own erratic heart rate before infusing my voice with certainty. “Jump.”

She gave me possibly the most withering look I’ve ever seen. It would’ve been funny under other circumstances; then, it was like a knife to the chest. “Are you crazy?”

Larry chittered as if to punctuate her question, and I quelled the impulse to roll my eyes by meeting hers. “Jump on him.” Let it be known that this was the first, last, and only recorded instance of me encouraging Tina to ‘jump’ on another male.

Tina looked at Larry and then at me with a barely contained sob, and I _felt_ my heart crack, all my good humor vanishing in a second. “Tina, listen to me. I’ll catch you. Tina!”

My swooping evil made another circuit of the chamber, clicking to himself before flying just beneath her feet. Tina tracked him with her eyes as the gurney sizzled beneath her, and I realized that we were out of time. I met her eyes, projecting as much confidence as I could while extending my arms. “I’ll catch you.” She still hesitated. “I’ll catch you. I’ve got you, Tina.…” I infused my voice with as much authority as possible. I had to trust her conditioning right now. “Go!”

She jumped between two waves with a little shriek, just as Larry passed in front of her. She teetered for a minute and hopped forward right into my arms.

You were expecting a kiss or something equally dramatic weren’t you? Sorry to disappoint, but — I know I keep saying this — we really had no time at all. The alarms were still going off, and we needed to get out of the building without being caught. We had to settle for a shared long look, each ensuring the other was intact and relatively unaffected before I took her hand and led her away from certain doom, towards only possible doom. Believe me; it was an improvement.

“Come on!” I clicked to Larry and he folded himself back into his cocoon. The door was unlocked — which I was grateful for, but how’s that for incompetence? — and the black hallway deserted.

We charged through the basement corridors looking for an elevator or stairway. Tina clutched my hand tightly, but she was having trouble keeping up. I pulled her behind a pillar. “You’re an auror, how do we get out?”

Blood stained her head and neck from where she had pulled off the device, and her eyes were glazed making me suspect she still had a sedative in her system. “What?”

I shook her gently. “We need to go up. You’ve been down her before, haven’t you?”

Her brows furrowed and she rubbed at her forehead. “I….I don’t know.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t remember! It’s like there’s a….hole.”

“Bugger!” I gave her a quick hug. “It’s fine. We’ll sort it out later.” A spell slammed into the pillar, sending shards of bricks flying. One seared a cut across my cheek, but I ignored it. “Come on!”

I sent out Larry again, and he swirled above us as we ran, weaving between pillars, blocking curses and knocking assorted aurors to the ground. Lucien tumbled to the concrete and Larry settled over him, probing his ear. As much as I wanted the man dead for his treatment of Tina, this wasn’t the time.

“Leave his brains! Come on!” He hissed at me — he hates being interrupted at mealtimes — but leaped back into the air.

“What….what _is_ that thing?” Tina panted, dragging on my hand and wheezing slightly.

“Swooping evil.” We came to a side corridor and I took it, hoping to slow down our pursuers. This place was much bigger than it seemed and I didn’t want to start running in circles.

“Well, I love it!” She yelped as Queenie stepped out from an alcove. For a wonder, she carried our wands in one hand and my rucksack in the other.

We stared at each other before Queenie thrust the bag into my arms along with my wand. “Get in! We can talk when we’re outta here.” She hugged Tina and passed her wand over. “You’re a mess.”

“You should see the other guys,” Tina joked while wiping away fresh tears.

I scrabbled at the rucksack straps and pulled out the case. I helped Tina down the ladder and climbed in after her. “Be careful.”

Queenie nodded solemnly. “Jacob’s waiting for us at his place. You go take care of Teenie.”

I forced a smile I didn’t feel. “She’ll be fine.”

Tina slumped in my desk chair, running her wand through her fingers as though she’d never seen one before.

“Hey.” She looked up at me dazedly. Either she was in shock from recent events, nearly being killed will do that to you and I’m sure being sentenced to death by the very government you were raised to defend is no easier, or she was still affected by whatever they’d used to sedate her. I could do something about that at least.

I hung my coat on a peg after extracting Pickett and Larry from the pockets. “Thank you, my friends.” I swear Pickett looked pleased with himself as he scurried to his nest in a corner of the desk. I fed him a snack and turned my attention to Tina.

A visual once-over told me the only outward sign of injury was to the access plate. Head wounds always bleed profusely, so I would need to clean it before I could see how deep the wounds were. She was still shivering and I put a blanket around her shoulders. She clutched it with claw-like fingers.

I filled a glass with water and handed it to her. “Drink all of this. You need to flush out the crap they gave you.”

She nodded dully and took a sip. Then her eyes widened and she drained the glass in three gulps. “I didn’t realize I was so thirsty.”

I refilled it. “That’s a good sign.” I took a sterile bandage from my medicine chest and pressed it against the side of her head. “Hold that and keep pressure on it.”

“Can you fix me?” The words were so soft anyone without enhanced hearing would’ve missed them.

I kept my voice light. “Well, first I need to see if you’re broken.” I admit it was a lame joke, and I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t smile.

A tear dripped into her lap. “I am though.”

“Tina….” I crouched in front of her so I could make eye contact resting both hands on her knees. “That’s not true. You’re injured and drugged right now, but you’re hardly broken.” She gave a tiny nod and I contented myself with that.

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with here.” I stood and cast a comprehensive diagnostic spell. It’s one of the most difficult I know, but over the years I worked out how to connect it with my comm. Now, it provides me with a detailed readout which I can save to my database. It’s very useful when working with injured creatures. Or humans.

“Well, it looks like your head isn’t that bad. Let’s clean that up, shall we?” I gathered a bowl of warm water and a cloth. When I pulled away the bandage, I saw that the bleeding had stopped already, so that was a good sign. As I wiped away the dried blood, I felt Tina relax bit by bit. A quick spell saw the punctures healed, and I added a bit of salve to keep scarring down. “Does anywhere else hurt?”

She frowned. “No, but I can’t….the diagnostic isn’t _there_ any more Newt. It’s all gone!”

I pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in my arms. “Hush. We’ll figure it out.” I could feel her tears soaking into my shirt. I let her cry, swaying back and forth lightly. From the desk, Pickett watched us with a worried look on his tiny face.

“You’re alive and that’s what matters right now. We’re both alive.” I pressed my lips to her temple. “And I don’t know about you, but I intend to stay that way.”

She gave a watery laugh and wiped at her eyes. “I guess so.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now, let me make us some tea and we’ll go out and get warmed up. You’re still shivering.”

“Tea?” She made a face of mock disgust. “If you insist.” Pickett chirped, drawing her attention. “And who’s this?”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you two haven’t met. Tina, this is Pickett. Pickett, this is Tina. He’s the one who got me out of my restraints. Bowtruckles are very good at picking locks.”

Tina crouched down and smiled at the bowtruckle. “Then I guess you saved our lives. Thank you.” She held out a finger and he rubbed his head against it affectionately.

I set about making the tea in my battered traveling kettle. A cup of strong, sweet tea was just the thing Tina needed. And it wouldn’t hurt me either. “Let him climb onto your shoulder. He can come out with us.”

The loud knock made me jump, spilling tea leaves all over the counter. Tina lost what little color she’d regained, but she clutched her wand stubbornly.

“Stay here. I’ll go see who it is.” I picked up my own wand and climbed the ladder ignoring her glare. Truth to tell, I was glad to see a bit of the old Tina coming back, but I knew she was in no shape for a fight.

I eased the lid up to be met by Queenie’s beaming smile. Above it, her right eye sported a purpling bruise, but otherwise she seemed unhurt. “We’re safe. For the moment, anyway.” I climbed out, and discovered we were in Tina’s rooftop sanctuary.

Jacob was there, holding a battered suitcase. He clapped me on the shoulder with his free hand. “Glad to see you’re OK, pal.” It’s a measure of how much I liked Jacob — even after so short an acquaintance — that I didn’t flinch as I normally would have.

“How’s Teenie?” Queenie was already climbing down the ladder before I could answer. Jacob and I shared an indulgent smile as the sisters’ chattering voices floated up to us.

Jacob hefted the suitcase. “We grabbed everything we could from her place and mine, and then she put it all in here somehow.” He gave the bag a look of wide-eyed amazement. “Dunno how she managed it, but it all went in.”

“It’s called an undetectable extension charm,” I explained, taking the case so he could have both hands on the ladder. “A very useful little spell. I’ll be down in just a moment.”

He stepped off the final rung heavily, making the workshop judder. “Sure thing.”

Setting down Jacob’s bag, I removed my wand and cast several spells to hide our little camping spot from view should anyone come up here. I saw no sign of stairs which meant access by air car, which was unlikely, or apparition — possible if MACUSA was looking for us at all. I wasn’t sure Graves would bother, but I’d rather not take any more chances.

When I returned to the workshop, Tina and Queenie were wrapped together, and I’m pretty sure they were both crying. “I was just about to make tea,” I told Jacob while passing over his case. “I think something to eat would be good, too.”

“Good idea.” He looked around my little workshop, now quite cluttered with four people and the luggage. “But this ain’t gonna work.” He went to Queenie and said something. Queenie nodded and, wiping at her tears, guided Tina out into the habitats.

“Now, I dunno what you usually have with a cup of tea, but I grabbed all the food I could….” He opened the suitcase and began delving. “I know they’re in here….ah!” He came up holding a plasticine container. “Doughnuts go with tea, don’t they? And chocolate always makes ya feel better.”

I smiled. “That’s perfect. There’s a table on the opposite side from where the feeding station is. I’ll fetch some plates as well.”

In fifteen minutes the four of us were enjoying cups of my best Ceylon and Jacob’s excellent pastries. I thought Tina needed something more substantial, but that could wait until she was calmer. She had scooted her chair around next to her sister’s and both were more absorbed in each other than their food.

Jacob looked at me and shrugged, good-naturedly. “So, what happened to yous guys? We were scared to death. The officers they left behind trashed the place pretty good. They found your case straight off.”

I gave him a general overview of our time in captivity. Tina and Queenie broke off their mental conversation to listen, and Tina made the occasional offhand comment. I hesitated when I came to Graves’ revelations — or supposed revelations about the elder Goldsteins. It wasn’t my story to tell, after all.

Queenie sniffled and pulled Tina closer, wrapping an arm around her. “It’s okay, honey,” she said to me. “We can talk about it.”

I glanced at Jacob who was frowning in concern. “Graves said — and we have no proof of this — that Tina inadvertently caused her parents’ deaths.”

Tina whimpered. “Tell him all of it.”

I sighed and reached for her hand. She clutched it so tightly I found marks from her nails later. “And he said that she was….” I hesitated, unsure how to phrase it. “Infirm, ah, mentally and physically.”

“Defective,” Tina turned her head into Queenie’s shoulder as if trying to hide from the world. “He said they were going to kill me — the government — but he saw my _potential_ as an auror. He said we’re — they’re — all like that at first.”

Jacob sighed, all traces of good humor gone from his round face. “Don’t surprise me. I always knew the higher-ups didn’t care about all of us down on the ground ‘cept for how we can be useful to ‘em.”

“No, they don’t,” I said grimly. I told him about how we had been sentenced to death and how we had escaped.

He shook his head in amazement. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen you two with my own eyes.” He poured a fresh cup of tea, added plenty of sugar and pushed it across the table to Tina. “Think you need this. You doin’ alright there?”

She gave him a tiny smile and sat up straighter, taking the cup in both hands. I hated to let go of her. “Yeah, I just….feel wrong, worse than before even.” She held out her right hand and we all watched it tremble very slightly. “My….my body doesn’t work right. My brain doesn’t work right.”

“Hush….don’t talk like that,” Queenie scolded. “You’re still Tina. That didn’t change.”

I thought hard about what I wanted to say, and she nodded at me. “I think I might be able to reactivate some of them. Or at least, I can try. I’m not promising it will work but….”

Tina seemed uncheered by this prospect. "Do you think I did it? Did I kill them like he said?" Her voice was barely audible.

Queenie sighed. "I dunno, Teen. I don't remember anything really before the hospital."

"They may have Obliviated you both,” I hesitantly ventured. I thought it was more than likely. Either that or the trauma of losing their parents had obscured the memories. That word again…. “There's probably no way to be sure."

"But if I did...."

"If you did, it was an accident," Queenie said firmly. "You were only a little kid."

Tina's face twisted into a grimace of self-hatred. "A defective kid."

Queenie swelled in anger, all sparking eyes and ruffled plumage. She reminded me of a Fwooper I’d met in rut once, and I instinctively leaned away when she turned on her sister.

"Porpentina Esther Goldstein! Now, you listen to me! You are not defective. You are one of the most caring and loving people I've ever known. You cared for me before mama and papa died, and even after you were always sneaking away to see me. And you didn't care when you got caught and punished. You cared about Credence enough to go against all your programmin' because you wanted to help him."

"Fat lot of good —," Tina started to say but Queenie took her by the shoulders and shook her hard.

"Would you do it again? If you knew what would happen, would you do it?" she demanded fiercely.

"I...." Tina fumbled for words, but then her expression cleared, calmed. "Yes, I damn well would. He didn't deserve to be treated like that; no one does."

Queenie beamed. “There you go! See? What I don’t understand is why Mr. Graves is so interested in Credence in the first place? Why not that awful Mary Lou instead?”

Jacob yawned, belatedly remembering to cover his mouth. “I was wonderin’ that too, but I’m so tired right now I can’t think straight. Newt, you got any beds down here, pal? Maybe we should all get some shut eye.”

“That’s a good idea!’ Queenie stood and pulled Tina to her feet. “You’ll feel better once you have a nap, sweetie.”

Tina shook her head. “I don’t think I can sleep.” But she went along with us back to my workshop where I showed Queenie my store of sheets and blankets. “Newt, I can’t….”

I kissed her lightly. “No, we’re just going to relax — we don’t have to sleep if you don’t want to. Queenie and Jacob can have my bed. Oh, before I forget….I placed some notice-me-not charms around the case, but it would probably be best if we stayed off the Net completely so they can’t track us. It means we won’t know if they’re searching for us, but….”

“Better safe than sorry,” Jacob agreed. “I don’t really use the Net anyway, so no loss there. Sleep well, you two.” He tipped me a wink.

I grabbed a couple of the softest quilts from the stack my mother had given me the last time I was home. She uses them for wrapping up newborn or sick hippogriffs and she always has more than she needs. “There’s a place I think you’ll like.” I took Tina’s hand, glad to find it now slightly warmer.

We made our way past the bowtruckle wood to one of the new habitats I set up in anticipation of my trip to America. It’s very small: a section of pine forest with a stream in the middle running quietly over a rocky bed, but I thought there might be room to swing a hammock between a couple of trees.

“What lives here?” Tina’s shoulders unconsciously relaxed as she soaked in the dappled sunlight and the gentle burble of the water.

“Nothing yet, but maybe a wampus if I’m lucky enough to find one.” I took her arm and helped her around a large rock when she nearly stumbled. “Careful there.”

“Thanks. I forgot….that you were supposed to leave today. Or yesterday. Or whatever day it is now.” A tiny smile lit her face just for a second.

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I have a rough travel plan, but I always build in time for unforeseen events.” I found the two trees I was looking for. “Can you hold these for just a moment, please?”

She took the pile of quilts, staggering a little until she found her balance again. “I bet you don’t usually factor in getting arrested and running from the local government during most of your trips.”

A wave of my wand conjured ropes and made the top quilt stretch between them. “Well, it has happened. Not often, mind you, but….”

“Why am I not surprised?” She passed me the second quilt which I laid on top of the first and used magic to pad a bit. “And you were never at fault, were you?”

I feigned shock. I hadn’t joked around with anyone like this since.…Leta, I suppose. Theseus is several years older than me and we’ve never had that sort of closeness. “Of course not!” Honesty compelled me to add, “Well, not most of the time. In my defense, I will say that my intentions were always good.”

She eyed the completed hammock distrustfully. “Are you sure we’ll both fit in there without ending up on the ground?”

It took a few tries and several jabs from elbows and knees before we managed it without being dumped, so that was good. A few stabilizing spells probably helped.

When we were situated with Tina half on top of me, we lay quietly looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead.

"What are you thinking about?" Given everything that had happened over the past couple of days, I felt she was entirely too calm, and I braced myself for a potential storm. What she said surprised me though. 

"I was wondering why Mr. Graves was so interested in your Obscurus."  
  
I inhaled her scent, now overlaid with the sharper tang of blood and sweat and made a note to offer her a shower after our nap. I pulled my mind away from a mental image of a wet, naked Tina, to focus on her question. "And more to the point, when did he become a follower of Grindelwald?"  
  
She snuggled closer. "I didn't know he was. Either he hid it well or it happened after I was demoted."  
  
"And you never had any trouble from Grindelwald's people?" I stroked my hand up and down her back as far as I could reach.  
  
The bristles of her hair rasped against my cheek as she shook her head. "No, I'm not even sure what he wants in the end."  
  
"What do all despots want? To take over the world, of course."  
  
The hammock bounced with our laughter. "Oh, is that all?" She had a wonderful laugh, and I decided right then that I needed to hear it as often as possible. Preferably daily.  
  
"Seriously," she said once we were both calmer. "I know he's been terrorizing everyone overseas, but what's his goal?"  
  
"He thinks we've been under the heels of the Muggles — sorry, techies — for too long. The wizarding world should cast off our secrecy and rule over the lesser non-magic peoples."  
  
"With himself as our benevolent leader, no doubt." Her tone was dry as the Sahara Desert.  
  
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Of course."  
  
"He's an idiot, and he doesn't know wizards very well then. Ninety percent of my work as an auror was protecting techies! And Mr. Graves always insisted we treat them with the same respect we would show our own people. I just can't see him ever believing someone like Grindelwald.”

“He seems to have done so. I can’t come up with another explanation.”

She nodded after a minute and said, “Do you think I had one?”

I blinked, confused at the sudden change of subject. “One what?”

“An obscurus. It would make sense. I’ve never heard of little kids having the power to throw two people across a room. Usually they just move their toys around. But an Obscurus is always described as physically violent.” She was trying to sound clinical and detached, but I could hear the wobble in her voice.

I wrapped both arms around her. “I suppose it’s possible, but you don’t have one right now. No Obscurial has lived to be older than ten as far as I know.”

“Tell me about her. The little girl in Sudan.” I tensed instinctively and she leaned up to press a kiss to my jaw. “Please?”

I still hesitated; not because I had anything to hide, but because the memories and particularly the guilt could still overwhelm me if I let them. Still, it would be nice to know someone else remembered her. “Her name was Aamira. It means ‘full of life.’ I suppose she must’ve been once, but by the time I met her….”

As I talked on, Tina’s eyelids drooped and she slept. I laid awake for a while longer enjoying the slight weight of her against me before I joined her in slumber.


	7. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's left kudos and comments! The short final chapter will be up on Sunday, Aug. 5.

It was one of those dreams where you know you’re dreaming, but you can’t wake up. I saw a very young Tina becoming more and more frustrated as she tried to make her parents understand what she needed with her impaired communication skills. The room grew dark and filled with swirling black smoke. When it cleared, a sobbing child sat in the midst of rubble, staring at two limp bodies. 

Then the scene dissolved and Tina became Credence standing in front of the rec center watching Mary Lou spout her evil. Again, the smoky shadows rose up to enfold him as they had the night we met, and the building exploded, raining chunks of masonry on the gathered crowd. One of them struck me and I woke with a jolt. 

“Tina! Tina, wake up!” Still half asleep, I struggled to get out from under her, nearly dumping us both to the ground. We flailed and the top of her head slammed into my chin, snapping my teeth together. My mouth filled with the taste of copper from my bitten tongue. 

“What?” She blinked and looked around in alarm as she climbed out of the hammock and reached for our wands which we’d left on a nearby rock. “What is it?” 

I extracted myself from the hammock and snatched up my own wand. “We need to find Credence. He’s an Obscurial. Come on!” 

We charged through the habitats, and for once I wasn’t careful about disturbing anyone. This was too important. “I knew something wasn’t right when we met him, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.” 

“Credence….an….Obscurial?” Tina panted in my wake doing her best to keep up. “How can you be sure?” 

“I know he is!” I banged into the workshop and hammered on the bedroom door. “Queenie! Jacob! Get up! We need to go — now!” I scanned my shelves considering my options. No, potions and spells wouldn’t help. We would have to talk to him, convince him to come with us. Where? Back here maybe. 

Queenie and Jacob woke nearly as quickly as Tina had. “Newt, pal, what’s wrong?” Jacob was rubbing sleep from his eyes, but Queenie was quicker.

“Ooh….but how will we find him? Newt thinks Credence has an obscurus,” she explained to Jacob, waving her wand to smooth the wrinkles out of her dress. 

“I  _ know  _ he does,” I insisted. “I sensed it when I saw him — he felt just like Aamira in Sudan — but I didn’t consciously realize it at the time. We need to find him before Graves does.” 

Jacob patted my arm. “Hang on. We can’t just go rushing around with no plan. We’ll get caught and what good will that do the boy?”

Tina nodded, her expression intent and I saw that, enhancements or not, she was a natural auror. “It’s mid-afternoon now. The Second Salemers go all over the city during the day. He could be anywhere.” She turned to her sister. “He’s a techie so he’ll be connected. Can you get on the Net and find him but cover your tracks?” 

“Yeah….” Queenie bit her lip, and I wondered if she’d picked the habit up from Tina. “I’d be afraid to use my comm though — it’s registered so MACUSA can track it.” 

I lunged for my desk, scattering my notes and alarming Pickett who had been dozing in one corner. “What about mine? It’s old and not registered anywhere as far as I know.” I found it and shoved it into Queenie’s hands. 

She turned it over curiously. “This isn’t old; it’s pathetic! But yeah, it ought to work.” She frowned at the unit before banging it on the workbench, grumbling about migraines and ancient technology. I opened my mouth to hurry her along, but Tina shot me a look. Queenie took a small silver electrode from her pocket and pressed it against her temple before activating the comm unit.

We all held our breath as her eyes moved rapidly, looking at something we couldn’t see. “Newt you really need an upgrade. So many menus….”

“Never mind that!” Tina sounded as impatient as I was. “Just find him.” She reached out and took my hand, squeezing tightly.

“Give me a sec….” Queenie’s breathing slowed, and I made an effort to match it and still my racing heart. She was right: we couldn’t afford to be careless and mess this up. “Wait! Is that him? Yes! He’s near the Park. That’s as sure as I can be from here.” She removed the electrode and turned off the comm. “When we get closer, I can find him.”

We climbed out one by one onto the rooftop where the Squires sign flickered and hummed. I stowed the case in my rucksack after triple checking the locks just to be sure. 

“Now wh—....” A muffled bang interrupted Jacob’s question. We hurried to the edge where we could see out over the city. The minute we stepped out of Tina’s wards — they really were quite exceptional — the rain and cold assaulted us. I flipped up my collar and thought about finding my gloves before my attention was caught by the chaos in the streets below. 

“That the obscurial thing?” Jacob’s voice was hushed in awe. “It’s going through buildings like they’re paper.” As if in illustration, a restaurant blew up in a shower of glass and concrete. Screams and sirens mingled with the sounds of destruction as people rushed to get out of the way.

“Well, at least we don’t need to go looking for ‘em,” Queenie said with determined cheerfulness. “That’s good.” 

I dampened my hearing as the devastation moved toward us. “I’ve never seen an obscurial so strong.” You have to understand — a child infected by an obscurus has never been known to live past the age of ten. The parasite is just too strong for the host body to contain. Somehow, Credence had gained an unprecedented level of control over his passenger. In spite of the darkness of his life, this young man clearly wanted to live very badly. 

I stepped onto the ledge, and helped Tina up beside me. “How old is Credence, do you know?’

She winced at my sharp tone but said nothing, her eyes fixed on the roiling mass of darkness now three blocks away. “His late teens or early 20s, I think. I’m not sure. After I was demoted, I lost access to the files.” 

“That’s more powerful than any obscurial I have ever heard of.” I opened my knapsack and removed the case. I pushed it into Tina’s arms, not looking at her. “If I don’t come back, look after my creatures. Everything you need to know is on the comm.” 

“What?” She clutched the box to her chest, confused.  

I looked down; the Obscurial — Credence — was closer now, almost directly below our perch. “They’re not killing him.” I leaned forward and kissed her one last time before stepping off the ledge and Disapparating. 

As the suffocating darkness sucked me in, I heard her cry after me.   
  
“Newt!” 

I reappeared in the middle of total chaos: buildings on fire, people screaming and running in all directions. Ground cars lay everywhere in mangled heaps of rubble. In the middle of it all Percival Graves paced, oblivious to everything else save where Credence writhed at the end of the street. 

He — or rather his Obscurus — was huge, a roiling mass of hurt and anger nurtured through years of isolation and torment. His face was just visible inside the mass, distorted and pained. 

Graves stood unafraid before him and shouted to be heard. “To survive so long, with this inside you Credence, is a miracle. You are a miracle. Come with me — think of what we could achieve together.”

I held my breath, and the noises receded into the background as Graves and I waited. Credence glided closer as if considering the offer, and then he exploded. The wave of energy sent a shockwave across the entire block, knocking Graves to the ground. I dived behind an upturned car for cover as Credence shot past down the street, demolishing everything he touched. 

I looked for the top of the nearest building and apparated to the roof. From there, I had a clear view of the path Credence was taking. Keeping one eye on him and one on my feet, I apparated from rooftop to rooftop at every gap between buildings. No, it’s not a terribly difficult skill; it just takes practice. 

Credence was  _ fast  _ though, even for apparition. “Credence! Credence, I can help you!” 

Big mistake. He shot up toward me, and I just barely managed to dive out of the way. 

A chimney to my left exploded, and I barely dodged out of the way. A glance backward showed me several black-clad aurors perched on the ledge of the building I'd just left.    
  
"Fuck. Alright....If you want me, you'll have to catch me first."    
  
I hopped — trust me, it's a technical term — from roof to roof, staying only seconds in each place with no discernible pattern. Give them credit, they quickly spread out to cover most of my visible options. Which left the invisible ones.    
  
I'd kept Credence in sight as much as possible during my antics, and I noticed when he reformed — what control he had! — and crept down some stairs. An old train station perhaps?   
  
The disillusionment charm left me shivering as if I'd jumped into icy water, but it did what I needed. With the aurors distracted and searching for me, I headed off in completely the opposite direction. 

The underground area proved to be a shopping arcade. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of some shining black tile curved ahead of me to the right with shops every so often like the spokes of a wheel. The left-hand wall sported vid screens blaring advertisements and the occasional news bite. I saw an overhead view of the street I had just left. You’d have thought the world’s biggest niffler had gone on a rampage. 

As I paced slowly down the corridor — it reminded me a bit too much of the hallway leading to the execution chamber — past clothing stores and restaurants, I turned my visual and auditory senses up as high as they would go. No shoppers remained; presumably they’d all scampered or been evacuated. 

Ahead, I spied a gaunt, black shape flit from one lighted doorway to the next. When I focused on him, I realized that Credence wasn’t quite solid. Parts of his form flickered like a bad hologram. He glanced around and I ducked into a store selling various enhancements and cosmetic implants. 

I was just about to step out from my hiding place, when someone else walked past me, ebony wand in hand, his footsteps muffled by a spell. Percival Graves looked neither right nor left, intent on keeping Credence in view. And behind  _ him  _ came Tina. She hung well back and had a partial disillusionment charm making her appear more like a figure made of clear glass than completely invisible. 

She saw me straight off when I joined her;  I’d let my own spell go as soon as I was below the street. They take a lot of energy to keep going, at least for me. I had a feeling that might not be the case for Tina. In fact, I suspected her magic would be even stronger with so many of her enhancements deactivated. But that investigation could wait until we survived our current predicament.  

“Are you alright?” She sported a long graze across her right cheekbone, but her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Clearly whatever she’d been up to had driven away any thoughts of inadequacy. 

She reached out a hand and touched my neck, showing me bloody fingertips from a cut I hadn’t even felt. “I could ask you the same question, mister.” 

“I’m fine. Listen, have you been here before?” I motioned her to follow me back out onto the corridor. Graves and Credence were nowhere in sight.

She nodded, looking confused. “Lotsa times. They have a great little wiz-only bar down at the end. Techies can’t see it.” 

“Can you apparate us there? We need to get ahead of both of them.” 

“Sure.” She took my arm and  we reappeared behind a neatly stocked bar. I resisted the temptation to liberate several bottles of fire whiskey and relocate them to the safer environment of my knapsack. 

Tina, on the other hand, had no such scruples. Scanning the shelves, she selected a small green bottle, levered out the cork with a purple fingernail and took a large swig. She recorked the bottle and slid it into her jacket pocket before turning to me. 

"Green Mist." She wiped at her streaming eyes. "It's good stuff but it's really strong."

“Is that absinthe?” I couldn’t help goggling as I examined another bottle. I hadn’t seen absinthe since the War. “Never mind. How do we get out of here?” I tucked the bottle in my bag  — for later examination. 

She led me around the bar and through the deserted taproom. We peered cautiously out and spotted Credence some distance away, stumbling as though he was weary to the bone. 

“Oh, Credence!” Tina made to rush out, but I held her back. 

“Wait. Let’s go together. Don’t startle him.”

She gave me a dirty look as if to say, “What’d you take me for?” but nodded reluctantly.

I took her hand and we sidled out of the little pub. “Credence?”

His translucent head turned in our direction and he froze.

“ Tina and I want to help you, Credence. We’re not here to hurt you.” I kept my voice low and soothing. We took a few cautious steps forward. “I’ve met someone just like you, Credence. A girl — a young girl who’d been imprisoned, she had been locked away and she’d been punished for her magic.”

Tina squeezed my hand. “I think he’s listening,” she whispered. “Keep talking.” 

“Credence? Can I come over to you?” 

He shied away at my words. Clearly, he considered me too much a stranger. 

“Alright, I’ll say right here.” I held out both hands. “Tina, you know him better than I do. Talk to him.” My sharpened hearing had picked up the sound of someone coming towards us. We didn’t have much time left.  

Tina stayed by my side as she spoke. “Credence, if you don’t want to go with Newt, you can come live with me and Queenie. We….” Her voice broke before she got it under control again. “We’ve always said we wished we had a brother. We’d make it work somehow.” She glanced at me to check that she said the right thing.    
  
Leaving aside the practical implications of having an unstable obscurial in your home, I approved whole-heartedly. The important thing was that Credence knew people cared about him and wanted him in their lives — unlike his horrible adoptive mother. I wondered idly if she was still alive, and found myself not caring if she was dead.    


I noticed that, while Tina had been speaking, Credence’s form had solidified noticeably, as if she were grounding him. It meant he wasn’t too far gone yet, and that was good. He opened his mouth to reply just as Graves came in sight. 

I yanked Tina back into the pub, too urgent to be gentle about it. I fear I may have left bruises. 

“What the hell are you doing?” she hissed, jerking her arm out of my grasp.  

“It’s Graves. I want to watch him with Credence. Just for a minute.” 

He approached the shaking young man cautiously, but still with that sense of wonder. I suppose I look much the same when I encounter a new creature. And Credence was a most magical creature indeed. 

“Credence. Are you hurt?” He stretched out a hand. “I can heal you. Remember the last time?” 

Tina hissed, no doubt at the implication that Graves had any prior dealings with Credence, but it did explain how he had been close enough to observe our visit.

Far from welcoming Graves’ advances, Credence backed away, his form flickering. “Leave me alone!” 

Graves put a finger to his lips in that familiar gesture. “Credence….I thought you trusted me. You know I care about you — more than your horrible mother ever did….”

“Newt….” Tina leaned close, and I couldn't suppress a shiver as her breath ghosted against my ear. “Something’s not right. About Graves, I mean.” 

“How so?” Personally, I thought a man who could sentence two people to death without a trial and for the most trivial of reasons had a  _ lot  _ of things ‘not right.’

She bit her lip. “I….don’t know. It’s just a feeling. He’s not acting like himself at all.” 

“Come on.” We moved back behind the bar again where we couldn’t be heard. I took off my rucksack and found the earpiece for my comm unit. 

“What’re you doing?” Tina watched me curiously. 

I attached the earpiece and activated it. “Queenie?” 

“Hey, Mr. Scamander! Where are you? I had ya in sight for a while and then I lost you.” 

“I’m — we’re, Tina’s with me — underground. Listen, th ere's something odd about Graves....can you find him on the Net? He’s part of the government  — he has to be connected.” 

“Lemme check….Woah.” 

“Did you find him?” She didn’t answer, and my heart rate speeded up. “Queenie? Did you find Graves?” Beside me, Tina fidgeted, never taking her eyes from my face.

“Yes and no….” Queenie’s voice was distracted, and she said something to Jacob that I didn’t quite catch. 

I’m usually very patient, but I was wary of leaving Credence in Graves’ company for too long. “What does that mean?” 

"He's not Graves. Well, he is, but....there's something else  — someone else there too. It's like they're woven together....like a parasite." 

"Or a virus?" The puzzle pieces were coming together faster, and I had an idea just who the virus might be. Call it a hunch if you like, but my hunches are usually spot on. 

"Exactly." 

I ran through the options. Tina was injured, and I doubted I would be able to defeat Graves on my own. He was the head of magical law enforcement after all, and I was always a terrible duelist. But if he were weakened....

"Queenie, can you drive it out, the other presence? Don't fight it directly. We need to separate it from Graves." 

Silence filled my ears and I had a moment of panic thinking we had been cut off. 

"Yeah....I think so. Lemme talk to Jacob. He did tech in the army. He might have some ideas." 

I nodded, forgetting she couldn't see me. "Wonderful. It might be best if you joined us before the aurors get here." I described our location as best I could. “And please tell me you have my case.” 

I could hear the smile in her voice. “Yep! It’s safe and sound. We’ll be there in a sec.” 

True to her words, she and Jacob appeared in the middle of the taproom a moment later. Jacob staggered a bit as he let go of Queenie’s arm. 

“Don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. Like bein’ sucked down a straw.” 

Tina sent nervous glances toward where Graves and Credence were still talking, Graves a few meters closer now. “Come back in here  — so they won’t hear us.” 

Queenie produced my case from the pocket of her pink coat and held it out to me, but I shook my head. “Not yet. Just keep it safe a while longer, please. Until….” 

“Sure thing, honey. Now, what are you plannin’ and how can we help?” 

I took a deep breath and ran over the idea one final time. “I need you to separate the….virus from Graves. I’m not sure how much of him is still left, but it has to be done.” 

She frowned. “He’ll know the minute I start trying. You’ll have to distract him.” 

Tina gripped her wand with a hand that shook just a bit. “We can do that.” 

I swallowed down any protests I might have made. Tina wouldn't have appreciated them, and I knew neither of us could do it alone. “The second thing,” I went on, “is to get Credence out of here  — preferably into my case, but just somewhere safe will do for now.” 

“Can you appa….apparate with an obscure thingy?” Jacob asked, listening intently. 

I couldn’t help smiling even though the question was completely serious. “Not the way you and Queenie did  — or not while he’s non-corporeal  — but if he’s calm and....himself again, it should be no problem.” 

He nodded. “So what can I do to help, pal?”

“The virus in Graves will notice what Queenie’s doing eventually and try to reassert control. She said you know something about tech  — can you keep it from doing that?” 

“Huh....like a wall maybe or a box. Yeah, I think so. Remote connection won’t work though. There should be a terminal behind the bar.” 

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Good!” 

Queenie took his hand. “Come on, honey, let’s get started.” She narrowed her blue eyes at me and Tina. “You two be careful. Newt, I’ll let you know when I’m in.” 

Tina and I crept to where we could see out. Graves was still speaking to Credence. The young man had let him get closer, but not much. 

“He’s really desperate to get Credence on his side,” Tina said. “What’s he playing at?” 

I drew my wand and took a deep breath for courage. “Let’s find out. Credence!” 

As soon as I stepped out into the open, Graves attacked. He moved so quickly he was only a blur. I’ve never seen any enhanced human move so fast. He swung his wand like it was an ancient sword instead of a rod of onyx and silver (quite lovely, too, the glimpse I had of it). 

I parried the first spell by sheer reflex, and tried to dodge the second, but it hit my arm. Not my wand arm, luckily, but it still hurt like a bitch. I managed to apparate as another spell singed the air where I’d just been. We kept this up for a few minutes: Graves attacking and me leaping around like a frog, attacking in turn  — and always missing. 

Under the cover of our lopsided duel Tina crept over to Credence who was huddled against the wall. A quick glance showed me he was solid again and listening to her. Good. Or it would’ve been if Graves h adn’t decided he’d had enough of my acrobatics. 

The spell rolled toward me almost too quickly for the eye to follow. I tried to pull my exhausted limbs into apparition, but it was too late. The wave picked me up and slammed me down again, cracking my head on the floor. Two concussions in two days. It must be a record. 

“No!” Credence’s voice was an inhuman howl, and I watched through dazed eyes as he came apart with a roar. The obscurus burst outward, flinging Tina away like a rag doll. It rushed toward Graves who fell to his knees in awe. 

“Credence. You’re....magnificent.” 

The obscurus let out an unearthly scream and dived toward him. Sadly, he managed to apparate away just in time. 

“Newt!” Tina half limped, half crawled over to me. “Are you hurt?” 

Behind us Credence chased Graves in circles, the auror always staying one step ahead of him. I wish we’d had time to enjoy the sight.

“I think so.” She wrapped an arm around me and I staggered to my feet, trying not to lean on her too much. “I have a….”

Queenie’s voice in my ear interrupted me. “Newt?” 

I held up a hand and mouthed, “Queenie.” Tina nodded. “Yes, I’m here.” 

“We’ve almost got it. Jacob says you’d better hurry with whatever you’re gonna do because he won't be able to hold it for long.” 

I relayed this information to Tina. She nodded grimly and kissed my cheek. “Stay here and get ready.” 

She stepped away from me and raised her wand. “Mr. Graves!” Her spell tossed him out of Credence’s path. 

He rolled and got to his feet, an unpleasant sneer on his handsome face. “Tina, always turning up where you’re least wanted. I thought that ground car I threw had finished you off.” 

Her cheeks were flushed with the adrenaline of battle and the sight made my own blood quicken. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” Her next spell cracked against his shield. 

“You’re stronger.” Graves made no move to attack her, but stepped closer. “It seems that in trying to kill you, I’ve done you a favor. Just think of what we could accomplish together: you, me and Credence.”

She laughed. “Oh, now that I’m useful, you want me back? Don’t listen to this man, Credence. He’s been using you. Using people is what he does best.” 

The obscurus had retreated, and I could just make out Credence’s silhouette within its depths as he watched Tina and Graves. 

“Don’t listen to her, Credence! I want you to be free — both of you.” 

Suddenly Aurors begin pouring down the corridor — at least thirty of them — their wands raised aggressively.

“Queenie, please tell me you’re ready because we are out of time.” At the sight of the aurors, Credence shrank away, the obscurus beginning to swell again. 

Tina moved protectively in front of him; one woman facing an army. “Shh! Don’t, you’ll frighten him.”

“Almost there….hold ‘em off as long as you can.” Queenie’s voice was tight with strain. “It’s fightin’ us.”

The Obscurus let out a terrible moan and swelled even more. I darted over to Tina’s side, hoping my presence would help to calm him somewhat. Graves spun to face the Aurors, his wand at the ready. 

“Wands down! Anyone harms him — they’ll answer to me.” He turned back to the writhing mass of darkness. “Credence!” 

Beside me, Tina made one last effort. “Credence, please….”

And then the aurors attacked as if someone had given them a silent order. It was….horrible. I barely managed to drag Tina out of the way, and she fought me every step.

“No! Credence!” 

Graves was yelling too, but the aurors’ focus on Credence was unrelenting and brutal. I still hear his screams in my nightmares even now. No creature — human or otherwise — could survive such a barrage for long. A white ball of magical light took over from the black mass as the obscurus imploded. The force of the explosion threw us all backward. When the spots cleared from my eyes, black tatters were all that was left of Credence, floating through the air like feathers. 

The only sound was Tina’s desperate sobs. I wrapped an arm around her and helped her to her feet, ignoring my own tears and the many bruises now making themselves felt all over my body. 

“Newt? What’s goin’ on out there?” Queenie voice was surprisingly loud in my head. 

I concentrated hard and sent her a mental picture of the scene: the mass of aurors — their wands still aimed at us, the wisps of the obscurus, and Graves berating the aurors with a furious expression.

“You fools! Do you realize what you’ve done?” 

A woman wearing a rich purple suit and sporting a gold turban emerged from behind the aurors — Seraphina Picquery, MACUSA president. She radiated Power and Authority. I shrank into myself out of sheer self-preservation. You’ve probably realized by now that authority and I don’t always get along.

“The Obscurial was killed on my orders, Mr. Graves.” Her voice rang through the space, full of steely conviction.

Graves glared. “Yes. And history will surely note that, Madam President.” He moved toward her along the platform, his tone threatening. “What was done here tonight was not right!”   
  
“He was responsible for the death of a techie.”

Tucked against me, Tina flinched and gave a little whimper of distress. I realized that the destroyed buildings she’d mentioned when we met must’ve been Credence’s work, and someone had died. Or perhaps his mother had.

Picquery went on, “He risked bringing their wrath down upon our heads. He has broken one of our most sacred laws.” 

Graves laughed bitterly. “A law that has us scuttling like rats in the gutter! A law that demands that we conceal our true abilities! A law that directs those under its dominion to cower in fear! I ask you, Madam President,” His eyes swept over us as he strode back and forth, like a hawk looking for prey. “I ask all of you — who does this law protect? Us? Or them?” He gave a bitter smile. “I refuse to bow down any longer.” 

As Graves pontificated to his audience, Jacob's voice cut in. It was crackly and full of static the way comm connections usually never are.    
  
"You're gonna have to work fast, buddy. It's fightin' Queenie like a fish on a line."    
  
"How long?" I whispered so Tina could hear. She glanced at me and took a firmer grip on her wand.    
  
Static. Then, "A minute or so."    
  
"We'll be ready." I slid a hand into my coat pocket, trying to be inconspicuous, and pulled out Larry's cocoon. "Wake up, my friend." No one was paying us any mind. They were all focused on Graves. He cut an impressive figure — black leather coat swirling around him as he turned.

Eventually, the President grew tired of his ranting. “Aurors, I’d like you to relieve Mr. Graves of his wand and escort him back to —.” 

Before anyone could move, Graves attacked. The wall of aurors answered and spells flew back at him from all angles. He parried them all, and several aurors were sent flying. 

I tensed. Any second.…

“Now!” Queenie’s voice was a shriek. 

I threw Larry at Graves. The swooping evil soared around him, shielding us and the aurors from Graves’s spells, and giving me time to raise my wand. You see, I’d been sitting on a very special spell that a friend taught me. It’s very powerful, but also very draining; if I failed, I wouldn't get another chance. 

I slashed with my wand, praying I remembered the movement and the incantation correctly. A crackling rope of supernatural light wrapped itself around Graves like a whip. Graves tried to hold it off as it tightened, but he staggered and fell to his knees, dropping his wand. 

“Accio!” Graves’ wand flew into Tina’s hand, and he looked around at us, a deep hatred in his eyes. 

And then his body arched and his head fell back. Electricity skated across his skin, singing his clothes. From his open mouth poured a nebulous of green energy. It coalesced into the transparent form of a man with blond hair and mismatched eyes. 

Tina gasped, the sound loud in the stunned silence of the hallway. 

Graves’ body slumped to the ground, and with his death, my spell dissipated. 

Picquery moved forward cautiously. “Grindelwald.” 

The hologram, if that’s what it was, ignored her, turning it’s ghostly eyes to where Tina and I stood. “Very clever, Mr. Scamander.” It drifted closer, passing through Tina’s shield charm as if it did not exist, until it hovered directly in front of me. “I see you’ve been taking lessons from an old friend of mine. Did you really think it would be so easy to defeat me?”

“It worked this time.” I wasn’t trying to be flippant, honestly. 

Grindelwald smirked. “Yes, but don’t expect it to happen again.” His blue eye flicked from me to Tina and then to Queenie and Jacob who had joined us. “Will we die, just a little?” 

“Aurors….” Before Picquery could finish her order, the hologram dissolved into a pillar of green energy that shot toward a nearby terminal and disappeared back into the Net.

I pulled Tina out of the way as the aurors converged on the remnants of the obscurus — of Credence. “Let’s get out of here before they start asking us questions.” 

“Good idea.” She took my arm and we spun into apparition, reappearing with Queenie and Jacob on the Squires rooftop. 

Jacob gave a huge sigh. “Got any booze in that case of yours, buddy? I could really use a drink.” 

Remembering the little green bottle Tina had purloined, I smiled. It felt like the first time in years. “I think I might be able to scrounge up something.”

It wasn’t quite a celebration and not quite a wake but something in between. We pooled our various food and libations, chatting about inconsequential things and drinking far too much. 

Finally, Queenie hauled Jacob to his feet. “I dunno about you all but I could use a nap. Night-night.” Giggling, they disappeared into the bedroom.

Tina had been leaning against me for the past hour, half dozing. “I’m exhausted, but I don’t think I can move.” 

“Well, I can tell you from experience that the hard ground does not make for a good night’s sleep. Up you get.” 

With our arms around each other’s waists, we stumbled back to our forest refuge. The burbling of the stream made me even sleepier. 

Tina gave the hammock a distrustful glare. “Not happening.” 

I laughed and managed to focus my wits long enough to transfigure the thing into something resembling a bed. Well, it didn’t sway, at least. 

We tumbled into it and Tina wrapped herself around me. “Love you….”

Before I could answer, she was asleep.


	8. Making Plans

I woke to curious fingers running over my nose and cheekbones, but I kept my eyes closed. 

“I know you’re awake,” Tina’s voice purred. “Your breathing changed.” 

I opened my eyes to find her propped on one elbow, staring down at me. “Good morning, love. How did you sleep?”

“LIke the dead.” She flushed and looked away, biting her lip. 

“Hey.…”

She swallowed hard. “You have so many scars….” She tapped the one on my right eyebrow and then the one on my left ear. 

“Do they bother you?” We hadn’t seen much of each other’s bodies during our previous encounter. I didn’t think Tina was the sort to care about things like that, but my anxiety kicked in anyway.

“No.…I think they add character.” She traced the line that bisected my upper lip. “How did you get this one?’ 

My eyes crossed trying to keep her finger in view, and she giggled. “Theseus — that’s my brother — we were fighting, I don’t remember over what. Anyway, he busted my lip and I broke his nose. Our mother thought we might kill each other on a daily basis.”

Tina smiled a bit sadly. “I guess you’ll be leaving now?” 

It took my sleepy mind a minute to register the change of subject. “Oh….well, not today, but yes, I should probably start preparing — buying any extra supplies and all that.” 

“Let me come with you.” 

I stared at her in my turn. Apparently, my ears were working as slowly as my brain that morning. “You….you want to come with me?” 

“Please. I don’t know how much help I can be, but I can learn. Please, Newt….there’s nothing here for me any more. I can’t go back to MACUSA, not after Credence. And I don’t know how to do anything else.”

Kissing her stopped the flow of words quite nicely. “Tina. Are you sure?” I reached out a shaking hand to run it over her cheek.

She nodded, nuzzling against my palm like a cat. “Positive.” 

I kissed her again and it was some time before we came up for air. 

When we finally joined Queenie and Jacob, it was early afternoon in the world outside my case. As soon as we stepped into my workshop, Queenie squealed and threw herself into Tina’s arms. 

“I knew it! I told Jakey you wouldn’t leave Newt!” 

Jacob and I exchanged fond glances and started putting together something that resembled lunch. We ate in my orchard, on a blanket spread under the trees. 

No one spoke for the first ten minutes as we assuaged the gnawing hunger we’d been too tired to deal with the night before. 

At last, Jacob set down his fork. "Queenie and me — we're goin' with ya, pal. If you don't mind that is.”

“The four of us should stick together, don’t you think?" Queenie said, flicking her wand to send cups of cocoa to each person before leaning her head on Jacob’s broad shoulder.   
  
"But....you have your own lives, your work...." I'm not used to company on my expeditions save for a local guide once I get where I'm going. I tend to annoy people, so I never considered anyone might want to travel with me.    
  
He shrugged. "Sure, but we've all got targets on our backs now too, from the high ups and that Grindelwald. I dunno about you, but I think now might be a good time to disappear. They're distracted with cleaning up, but that won't last long."    
  
Tina and Queenie were both watching me hopefully. "It won't be easy," I warned Jacob. Didn't he understand how much I tend to attract trouble? "Even with magic. We'll have to stay off the Net as much as possible."   
  
He gave me that devil-may-care grin. "Ah, I'd been feeling restless even before you turned up. Kinda missing the war, you know? Well, not the bad stuff, but the adventure of it all."    
  
I shook my head. "You're insane — all of you." I pushed up my sleeve so my arrival and departure tattoo was visible. "And I'm only here for two months, remember? What will you lot do after I have to leave?" They really wanted to throw away their entire lives to go tramping across a barren, violent wasteland with me? Maybe they'd been cursed when I wasn't looking.   
  
Queenie laid a gentle hand on my arm. "Well, there's been rumors for years about a group of wizards and techies who live together without the Net or the higher-ups watching 'em." Her delicate brows drew together. "I think it's supposed to be somewhere on the west coast."    
  
"As for that...." Jacob gently took my wrist and examined the red characters, running a finger across them. "I might can do somethin' to fix it. I got a few ideas when we was rummaging around in that Graves guy's head."    
  
At his last words, Queenie started as if she'd just remembered something. I looked at her curiously, but she gave a tiny shake of her head and mouthed, "Later."    
  
Tina didn't notice. She was rubbing her forehead absentmindedly.    
  
"You okay, Teen? Is there somethin' we didn't heal?"   
  
"No, I'm fine....But....I just realized this doesn't hurt anymore."    
  
We all turned to look at her, and she flinched away at the sudden attention. "Don't! It's so ugly!"   
  
Queenie pulled her hand away, revealing an expanse of smooth, unblemished skin. "Teen, it's not there anymore. It's gone."    
  
"What?" Tina's mouth hung open. "Don't tease me like that, Queenie." She turned to me, cautious hope in her eyes. "Is it really?"   
  
I leaned forward and kissed where the tattoo had been. "Yes, really gone.”

She burst into tears and threw her arms around my neck. I patted her back, blinking away tears of my own.

“So, what about it?” Jacob reached for Queenie’s hand and held it tightly. 

To my surprise, I really didn’t have to think. In just a few days, these three people had touched me the way no humans outside of my family ever had, and I wasn’t ready to be parted from them.

“I’ll be happy to have you along,” I decided. 

It took some time for everyone to calm down, but at last, Tina wiped her eyes and sat up. I let her go reluctantly. 

“So, what do we do first?”

I took a deep breath and looked around at them all, feeling the familiar tingle of excitement that I get before I set off somewhere new. “First, we need to make some plans….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read, left kudos and commented! I was worried about posting something with a first-person POV, but the response just blew me away. You're all wonderful! I have an idea for a sequel that would address, among other things, how Tina deals with the fallout from this story. Let me know if that's something you'd like to read. 
> 
> You can follow us on Tumblr at @Kemara24 and @KatieHavok if you want to keep in touch!


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